The Equinox
by SkyStrider
Summary: The start of Spring in Japan is a special holiday – a chance for people to commune with Nature. However, in Nerima, Nature communes with the people, leading to high spirits (in more ways than one). Now, with the Storm coming in three months, things are even more out of control. Can Ranma and friends short out the runaway magic of the Equinox?
1. Dawn

The usual disclaimer: Ranma ½ is a trademark of Rumiko Takahashi and VIZ Communications, and its characters have been borrowed without permission. This story was written for non-commercial purposes only.

This story is part of the "Bindings/The Next Cycle" Chronicles. If you haven't been following it, the plethora characters might be confusing. There's a cheat sheet in my profile.

* * *

Chapter 1: Dawn

Akane slipped out of bed quietly. Nabiki was home for the holiday and the last thing Akane wanted to do was wake her snoopy sister. Once she stood up, she slipped out of her pajamas and underwear. The morning air felt brisk – almost invigorating. In some ways it matched the fire in her blood.

"Done!" she thought fiercely. She glanced at the calendar on the wall with its circled date. "This is the day *I've* chosen. Valentine's Day went exactly as planned. I've done what I wanted even though Nerima itself tried to hurry me." She picked up the Romance Candle set in a candle holder. "I have already chosen him, he's given me consent, and the moment is now!" With that thought she vanished.

* * *

Ranma walked around the fountain in his Dream realm looking at the statue of Akane standing on its pedestal. He was determined to give Akane her courtship, but it was hard sometimes. His blood boiled with longing for her right now.

"You're being foolish!" Akane's voice hissed all around him. "I already made all my decisions when I stepped into the Circle at SkyWatch. You gave me a ring. Even more important, you gave me a vow."

"Not yet," he whispered back. "I made it very clear that I was ready, but that I was in no hurry. I won't seduce you into this. You're going to make this call."

Suddenly, the statue awoke on its pedestal and looked at him. The statue threw off its gi, revealing a perfect body. "Fine!" the statue hissed. "Then I choose now!"

* * *

With a start, Ranma woke in his bed, his blood racing and roiling. He turned his head and glanced at the clock – 5:30AM. His throat was tight and so were portions of his pajamas. "Oh gods," he moaned. "A few more nights like that, and I'm going to end up in a mental hospital." He concentrated on steadying his breathing. Never had he felt like this about anyone or anything. Being apart from Akane was causing him actual pain. "She's just in her room," he mumbled to himself. "We agreed that Nerima was pushing at us and we wanted to avoid accidents so we were sleeping apart – that's all!" He held his head in his hands. "But it feels like my brain is on fire!"

Suddenly, his premonition kicked in. He had a moment to kick off his blankets before Akane appeared next to his bed with what seemed like a flash of light. He registered her presence like a blast of fire, lighting up his nerves. She dove at his exposed feet yelling "Then let's turn up the heat!"

He tried to push his feet back under the covers while yelling something incoherent, but she grabbed one foot with two hands and trapped the other under her body. Then the fiendish girl began to tickle his foot and laughter poured from Ranma's mouth. He tried to focus despite the sensation electrifying his leg and lunged forward to grab his fiancée about the waist. At that moment, Ranma hands brushed against a few interesting portions of Akane's anatomy and he registered one key fact – Akane was in his room without a stitch of clothing on. He pulled her away from his feet and she turned in his grasp. Her hands dove under his pajama top and forced it up over his chest. She almost had his arms trapped, but he concentrated on getting the shirt off before she pinned him. While he focused on getting free, Akane used a foot to push his pajama pants off. Then she grabbed his arms and placed her weight squarely on top of him, looking him in the face directly. The look of Desire she gave him froze him in his struggles.

Despite this, he forced his voice to work and asked: "Are you sure, Akane?"

The Desire faded in her eyes and was replaced by a more intense look of Love. "The only time I can think clearly lately is when I'm touching you. I've never been surer, Dummy! I was planning on this morning ever since you proposed!" she answered. With that, she released her grip on the surprised young man and slammed the Romance Candle onto his end table - lit. "The only question left is 'Do *you* want this?'" she pressed as she reestablished her hold.

Ranma stretched up and kissed her passionately. "That has to be the dumbest question you've ever asked, Tomboy!" he said when they stopped. Love and Passion burned in his eyes as he added: "I've wanted this for a long time – I love you and I want you NOW!" With that, he broke her grip and wrapped her in a fierce embrace. Things only became more interesting from there as they became lost in each other. Neither of them noticed the swirls and pulses of Power that they shed into the air…

* * *

Mousse woke up with a start. Akane had invoked the Umisen-ken in her room and vanished from his mental map of the family. He always knew where the Tendos and the Onos (including Nodoka) were, no matter how far the distance except when one of the families invoked a Cloak as Akane had just done. He also knew where Ryoga and Akari were, even though they were an hour away by train. Ciren was mapped too, no matter how far she traveled, as were Ukyo and Konatsu. Lately, the old Ghoul had shown up on his map as well. He knew why, but chose not to make an issue of it. If Cologne thought of him as a grandchild, that was enough of a compliment. However, if any of them vanished, it was like a shock to the system, which is what woke him up.

"She's coming for Ranma. This is going to get noisy, one way or the other," he thought. "I really don't want to be here."

Akane had been acting very strangely lately. She was constantly distracted and had a hard time focusing on anything except fighting – and Ranma. Ranma was just as bad except he was more enigmatic than distracted. They were not mad at each other or anything like that, but their sparring had been extremely vicious as of late and they were very possessive of each other right now. The two had been joined at the hip ever since Mousse came onto the scene (how on earth did the Fiancée brigade ever think they had a chance?), even more so since Ranma had given Akane an engagement ring just after New Year's Day. But lately, they had taken things to a whole new level. If the two were in the same room, they were in constant contact with one another. If Akane was working on a Nuido project, Ranma was right beside her with an arm unobtrusively around her shoulders while he was reading a manga. When they played video games, they were practically in each other's lap. It had gotten bad enough that Akane was eating with her off-hand so that she could hold Ranma's hand during meals. Mousse would have thought that unfair except Ranma was doing his _homework_ using his off-hand for the same reason.

"This is Minus 1," he thought. "They're young, in Love, and betrothed. And Nerima is *not* helping. Everyone's overloaded by the Equinox. There isn't enough wood, steel, and concrete in the dojo to shelter me – I've got to go."

Mousse looked around his room in the basement of the dojo. Light flowed in from the small high windows illuminating his room. Ranma had a similar room down the hall and there were two spare bedrooms as well, one of which Ryoga and Akari used when they came to visit. There was also several toilets and showers in the basement as well. Mousse's room was decorated with western rock-and-roll posters, some Chinese paintings, and weaponry. The furniture was an antique cherry bedroom set that had been in the dojo basement. Mousse had carefully cleaned and polished the handful of pieces and the Tendos had insisted that he keep them with him, reasoning he was the best one to keep them safe. All-in-all, it was an extremely comfortable and personal room.

When Toshio Kuno had generously settled with the Tendo family regarding the destruction of the dojo (which had happened with Tatewaki's and Kodachi's help) to buy their silence, the Ono and Tendo families had gathered to talk about the future, especially since Doctor Tofu and Kasumi were to be wed on New Year's Day. The apartment attached to the clinic was too small for a family, so Tofu and Kasumi had decided that it would need to be re-built, a procedure that was likely to take some time, especially since it was important not to disturb the clinic. Soun had offered to have the Onos move into the Tendo's house, but there was not enough space for everyone for such a long term stay. So the family had decided to finish part of the dojo basement before the wedding to add more rooms. This would allow everyone a little privacy and more comfort. After the wedding, Tofu and Kasumi took the upstairs guest room that Nodoka had been staying in; Nodoka took Kasumi's old room; and Mousse and Ranma moved into the dojo basement. There were now two spare rooms for guests as well. Ranma had also talked the Tendo family into a few modifications regarding plumbing and electricity to allow for possible expansions (Ranma and the Tendo sisters had ambitious plans for the future).

Mousse got up and put on a gi. If he was going to be up, he might as well do something useful, and running through some katas felt like a good idea. "Maybe some Tai Chi this morning," he thought. As he left his room, he saw a ghostly image of Akane quietly entering Ranma's room. Although the image was indistinct, Mousse had the impression that she was not wearing any clothes. "Definitely going to get noisy," he thought. He waited a little longer until he heard Akane's muffled battle cry, followed by a surprised yell from Ranma. Then Ranma broke out into laughter. Mousse grinned. "She found out you're ticklish on the soles of your feet and you get no peace now, Brother," the Chinese man thought. "Definitely time to be elsewhere."

In the backyard, Mousse performed the katas and reflected on the glimpse he caught of Akane. "My Spirit Sight is definitely growing more powerful. She was able to stop my physical mind from finding her, but not my Sight. I don't think I'll mention this to her though. I didn't see anything interesting, but she may still get embarrassed and I like walking upright," he grinned to himself. "To be fair though, the only one Akane really 'hits' these days outside of sparring – or a martial arts battle – is Ranma, and she never does it to inflict real pain anymore – only to get his attention or give him a dope-slap." Akane had largely recovered from her post-traumatic stress disorder inflicted by Tatewaki Kuno and his idiots. She controlled her temper more these days, but she was still a bit of a hot-head, and had a tendency to scream and shout if angry, or settle into a cold icy rage (either of which could be quite intimidating). But she wouldn't strike in anger anymore – especially not Ranma. "We all grow up eventually," Mousse thought as he finished the katas.

As he bowed to an imaginary sensei in the warm spring sunshine, Mousse heard a soft wolf-whistle coming from the back porch. He turned to see Nabiki wrapped in a warm robe watching him from where she sat on the edge of the porch. She had two cups of coffee next to her and a small smile on her face. "Good morning, Duck-Boy," she greeted quietly. "What has you up so early?"

"I could ask you the same question, Shark-Lady," Mousse smiled back. "You're not due up for another couple of hours."

Nabiki wrinkled her nose. "The same thing that has most of the city up early. Things should start to calm down by late tomorrow," she answered. "Here," she said holding out a cup of coffee to him. He came over, accepted the cup and sat down beside her.

"You made coffee this morning?" he asked.

"Are you kidding?" she replied. "Kasumi's been up for hours."

"How is she this morning?" Mousse asked.

"She's still glowing brightly. Tofu looks a little groggy because he couldn't get any sleep last night – their bedroom was lit up like daylight. He's wearing a blindfold right now. He still has a tail though, so he won't be going anywhere today," Nabiki answered. "How about you?"

"My Spirit Sight is going off-the-wall. Now I know how Ojima feels," he answered with a sour face. "At least all the ghosts have cleared out for a couple of days, so I don't have that distraction. They feel too uncomfortable to hang around. What about you?"

"What about me what?" she tossed back. He just gave her a very direct look until she smirked and replied: "I'm the one who's supposed to be good at ferreting out secrets, remember?"

Mousse continued with the direct look and teased with a half-smile: "C'mon – you're a Tendo."

Nabiki dimmed the smirk back to the small smile and admitted: "My mom's visit must have tripped a switch. I can see people's auras right now. What's even more surprising is that I know what the colors mean." She paused for a minute and then asked: "Did the dojo just shake?"

"I know nothing," Mousse said as he took a sip of coffee.

"Liar. Is that why you're up early? We put in a lot of sound-proofing in those rooms," Nabiki commented.

"Doesn't stop the ground from shaking," Mousse replied.

"Honestly! Why don't they fight out here?" she said with exasperation. Mousse bit his lower lip and thought about what he should say. Nabiki caught the expression and raised her eyebrows. "Oh thank gods!" she burst out. "If the tension between those two had gotten any worse, they'd start infecting those around them. We'd have a population explosion in nine months!"

"We may have that anyway without their help," Mousse added. Nabiki just nodded.

* * *

Elsewhere...

* * *

Judge Sanu looked out over his command center. He had policemen bringing in reports to clerks who quickly sorted them according to priority (generally relating to the potential for public harm). The clerks then either routed each report to one of the local mages for magical threats or to Ojima for physical threats. Threats that met both criteria were sent to Thomas Othan and his team of mercenaries. Sanu didn't know why Othan's team had offered their services Pro Bono, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse the mouth. He knew Othan's group was on someone's payroll, but as long as it wasn't Kuno's, Sanu didn't care. The judge suspected Ono had something to do with it, but he couldn't prove it. Actually, the gossip chain said Ono was temporarily ill due to the Equinox effect and was holding out at the Tendo house. Ono's mercenary team had gone to help Ojima and were taking their orders from him. Again, as long as it wasn't Kuno, Sanu didn't care.

Ryuu watched his boss carefully, and with a little glee. Sanu was practically vibrating with energy. This morning's assassination attempt hadn't even come close; Sanu had been so on-the-ball this morning that he defused the "bomb" with five minutes to spare and this one even had a special detonator. Normally, the Game would have been declared in Sanu's favor for simply finding and avoiding the bomb, but Ryuu was feeling his oats too and had rigged the bomb to "take out" the neighborhood. The judge had to defuse the bomb to win. "He's alive again. More alive than I seen him in quite some time," Ryuu thought. "Coming to Nerima was a big win. There's no more talk of retirement."

Judge Sanu looked up and spied Ryuu. "Are the Americans all right?" the judge asked.

Ryuu smirked. An American delegation was visiting Tokyo in general and some Nerima manufacturing plants specifically. "We're in luck," the assassin answered his boss. "They are still hung over from last night and none of them want to move. Soun Tendo really did a job on them."

"And himself," Sanu added. Ryuu just continued to grin evilly. "At least their hotel is not in Nerima. I think we can consider them out of picture until Monday. That's one less problem. Honestly, I don't know what the Finance Minister was thinking sending them our way."

"It's true then? The Big Boys really know about Nerima?" Ryuu asked amazed.

"Apparently," Sanu answered. "They just keep it under wraps and leave it to the locals to deal with."

"Which includes us now," Ryuu stated. Sanu just grinned back.

"Judge!" a clerk called out. "We have a Grade 1 supernatural threat reported!"

"A real ghost?" Sanu called back.

"No!" the clerk corrected. "An real oni!"

"Where?"

The clerk froze for a moment and then said: "Shall I dispatch one of the mages?"

"Where is it?" Sanu demanded.

The clerk swallowed and said: "Central and Court…"

"Boss!" Ryuu shouted as Sanu was running out the door.

Sanu ran out of the building and practically leaped down the courthouse stairs. He hit the street and looked around wildly. Dawn was just breaking in the eastern sky. There was no one out yet, except the two policemen fighting what looked to be a walking garbage can. The can had sprouted metal arms and legs and was reaching inside itself to throw smelly trash at the policemen. The policemen fought back with batons that raised an unholy racket. The garbage can was fortunately at a severe disadvantage against the more nimble men however.

"Holy shit…" the judge murmured in awe. The garbage can seemed to orient on him.

"Crap, Isao! You just blasphemed!" Ryuu said harshly as he caught up with his boss. "Why don't you just ring the dinner bell!"

Sure enough, the oni oriented on Sanu and began stumbling toward him with the policemen tripping it up and bashing it. Ryuu produced two sai and stood in front of his friend. The garbage can reached inside itself and pulled out what looked like a small crystal ball. It hurled the ball at Sanu and Ryuu reacted to block it. The ball dodged Ryuu and drew back in an attempt to try for Sanu. Meanwhile, the trashcan monster collapsed and the policeman continued to beat on it.

"It's dead!" Ryuu shouted at them. "A little help over here!" he yelled again as he blocked the flying ball from getting to Sanu once more. "Pray!" Ryuu insisted to his friend.

"What?" Sanu replied in a shock tone.

"Pray! Apologize! Do something!" Ryuu persisted as he batted the ball away. "After all you seen in Nerima? BELIEVE!"

The idea shocked Sanu. Before coming to Nerima, he had been a confident atheist. But as he watched his friend battle the oni, a thought entered his head: "If it's real, so are other things." He looked up at the clear sky and shouted: "HELP!"

Suddenly, a robed priest ran around the corner holding a clamshell box. "There you are!" he cried. Quickly, he ran up behind the oni and snapped the box shut on it. "Done!"

Ryuu let out a sigh. "Thanks," he said tiredly. Sanu echoed the sentiment.

"You're welcome," the priest answered. "I've been hunting all over for this escapee."

"Escapee?" Sanu prompted.

"Solstices and Equinoxes can strengthen spirits – even evil ones," the priest answered. "This one's been bound for a long time and the trap wore out. This new one should keep it safe again." The cleric then looked at the pair of sai. "Where did you get those?" he asked.

"What? I've had these a long time," Ryuu answered.

"Interesting. Someone Blessed them recently. That's why they worked against the oni. I'd take very good care of them if I was you." Ryuu nodded, so the priest nodded in return and added: "I need to get this troublemaker back to the temple." He turned to leave.

"Wait, sir!" Judge Sanu called out. "We don't even know your name!"

The priest looked back over his shoulder as he walked away. "Oh, my name is Jakaro. I'm sure we will bump into each other again…"

* * *

Ciren left her apartment dressed in a jogging suit. She wanted her neighbors to think she was going to burn off excess energy. The truth of the matter was she was going to collect energy – a lot of it. "He promised nothing," she thought. "But I know this is my one good chance for a normal life with Ojima – I've got to take it."

* * *

Hinako also left her apartment, but in her child form dressed in one of her usual oversized dresses. "Is it worth it?" she wondered. "If this works, I'll be normal for the first time since I met Happosai." Doubts ran through her mind. "My life span will be the same as everyone else, and I'll lose my abilities. What if I get trapped in my younger form? Do I even want a family?"

The last thought caught in her mind. Finally she admitted to herself: "I do. I'm frozen in time. Everyone around me grows up and I'm always running behind them – even my adult form is childish." Then she shook herself. "Enough. There are plenty of other reasons to do this. Cutting this madness short is worth it all by itself…"

* * *

A/N: Next up – "Side Effects" As always, please read and review (or send a PM)!


	2. Side Effects

Chapter 2: Side Effects

Mousse and Nabiki sat in the warm sunshine for a little while until Nodoka came out dressed for the day. She was carrying a large tray filled with three breakfasts and more coffee. She also had a set of sunglasses on a chain about her neck. "Good morning, you two," she greeted them pleasantly. "You don't mind if I join you, do you?" she asked.

Mousse shook his head as Nabiki answered "Of course not, Auntie."

"Good. Being outside is a good way to greet the first day of Spring and I hate eating alone anymore," she answered.

"Alone?" Mousse quizzed. "Where are the others?"

"Well, let's see," Nodoka said thoughtfully. "Soun is still passed out in his room. Tofu checked on him and said he was still drunk from last night and likely to have a major hangover when he awakes. Kasumi said she didn't feel well and asked me to take over breakfast this morning. She's gone back to bed."

"Is she all right?" Nabiki asked concerned.

"Oh, I think so," Nodoka replied with a mysterious smile. "She insisted her husband accompany her and see to some sort of pain in her back. Something about needing a backrub. Let's just say I left food for them outside their door – something that will keep."

Nabiki laughed: "I guess she's not concerned about the teeth and claws."

"Never mind the tail," Mousse smirked.

"Actually, I think she finds the tail quite interesting," Nodoka said naughtily.

Nabiki laughed. "Auntie, I love you."

Nodoka winked at her. "And so we can avoid the 800 kilogram elephant in the room, let's just say I left a similar 'care package' outside of Ranma's room. I don't think we will be seeing much of Akane and Ranma today either."

Mousse raised an eyebrow at Nodoka's statement. "And this doesn't concern you?"

"My dear boy," the mother said primly. "I'm a mature woman – not a dead one. I'm well aware those two have been 'in heat' for the last month. And the last week has really been special – you have to love Nerima. I'm amazed they lasted, but they are both stubborn to the end." She made a dismissal gesture with her hand and added: "Today's their 'Minus One' anniversary; they probably were waiting for this date so they could celebrate it. But, if I could speed things up without hurting them, I would. Medication or no medication, I've been praying for this to happen for the last eighteen months. My only wish is that Akane was not on the pill, but there's no way I'm tampering with their happiness. I have learned patience. The grandchildren will come," she added with a wicked grin.

Nabiki rolled her eyes, and changed the subject. "Where were you this morning? You were gone when I woke up."

Nodoka was about to answer when she stopped and look at the dojo. She put on her sunglasses and stared at the building for a minute. "Oh, oh. I may have triggered something when I left that care package. Is the dojo actually glowing?" she asked.

"Let's just say that there more to Akane and Ranma than meets the eye and let it go," Mousse suggested. "I'm happy Kasumi did laundry yesterday and I can pull some clean clothes from the pile she didn't put away. I'm not going near my room for a bit."

Nabiki sighed. "What time is it?" the sharp-eyed girl asked.

Nodoka checked her watch. "We are just shy of 7AM," she stated.

"God, the peak weirdness isn't for three more hours," Nabiki moaned.

"That is a sobering thought," Nodoka admitted. "When I went for my walk this morning, things were in full swing. Judge Sanu is trying to convince the Martial Artists to keep the fighting limited to the parks and away from buildings. When I walked by Cherry Street Park, there were crowds surrounding the borders of the park looking on…

* * *

Daran looked out across the largest field at Cherry Street Park. "What was that line Hibiki use to shout at Ranma? Something about 'I've seen hell'?" he asked rhetorically. "That looks like Dante's 'Circle of the Wrathful' out there," Daran stated.

"Hey, at least the gakis have stopped exploding," Mausu commented. "They were not helping the ambiance."

"They stopped exploding because we ran out of the stupid ones," Inspector Ojima said. "The smart ones bolted when they realized there was too much emotion in play. A lot of 'scores' are being evened today." He looked out grimly at the Grand Melee in progress – as it had been since 5AM. There were hundreds of revved up Martial Artists on the field, whaling away at each other. The fighters were roughly aligned according to dojos – and there were a lot of rivalries. Dojos would sometimes team up against a common enemy, but the alliances never held beyond the first impact. Even within the dojos, individuals were turning on one other.

Despite the blows, throws, and kicks, there was very little bleeding though – not even a lot of bruising. People were healing too fast and Judge Sanu's ultimate rule was in effect: No edged weapons. Police watched the field looking for any violators. Ojima had a special Martial Artist squad standing by to deal with the offenders. Ojima also had one special weapon on display: Olaf strode across the field in his natural form. The five meter tall muscular giant was immune to all blunt and edged weapons – it took artillery to hurt him normally. Today though, Ojima wasn't sure even that would work. Apparently much of the giant's strength was mystical in nature, not physical. As a result, he was just as super-charged as the rest of them, but he was use to Power – the Nerima effect didn't cause him to act crazy as it did many of the Martial Artists. The giant was the most sober one on the field. Olaf had a radio strapped to his wrist and was constantly in touch with the police. If anyone spotted an edged weapon (or a situation out-of-hand), they radioed to Olaf and he dealt with it.

The Inspector sighed. In response, Mausu said: "You know, I was here for the last Equinox in the fall. I don't remember quite so much activity."

The inspector made a face and replied: "Normally, Equinoxes in Nerima are like full moons nights. People get a little giddy and there is some strangeness – onis escaping, ghosts showing up, etc. This one is special though; maybe because of the Storm coming. I've never seen it so bad before."

There was a pop next to Ojima, and Tomo appeared. The young Kitsune appeared as a fur-covered 12-year old boy, complete with fox ears, paws, and a tail. He was also glowing. "Aren't you a little obvious?" Daran asked him.

"I can't control my shape, but I can make people not notice me," the Kitsune shrugged. "It's about the only magic I can do and not have it get out-of-hand. That and teleport."

"No illusions either?" Mausu asked surprised.

Tomo shook his head. "If I try, I just end up with a bright ball of color. The Power flows are too strong and unpredictable. Cousin Tofu can pull off some human magic today, but he can't use his Kitsune powers either. He and some of the other strong mages are the only ones that can use magic today, and they are very hesitant to do it." Tomo nodded at the field and said: "There are a lot of people hunting for each other out there."

Daran shrugged: "Some idiots take loss personally."

"I noticed none of the top Nerima Martial Artists are out there though. Everyone fighting is ranked at forty or worse," Tomo added. "No one's looking for the top ranks either."

"What you really mean is that people are afraid to even think about Ranma and his contemporaries for fear of summoning them," Mausu laughed.

Ojima snorted. "The higher ranked Artists are smart enough to be cautious with their Power. They are also wise enough to be concerned when they are super-charged – they're afraid of losing control and doing some real damage. As for these lunatics, they finally have demi-god status and want to show off, but they are afraid that the real demi-gods have been bumped up to god-status, so they don't want to see them."

* * *

Nabiki, Mousse, and Nodoka had finished breakfast and were enjoying the sunshine when Soun staggered out onto the porch. "Soun, go back to bed," Nodoka told him patiently. "You're still drunk from drinking with that American delegation."

Soun shook his head and staggered a little. "I can't be drunk," he stated with only minor hesitation. "That party ended at 10PM."

"Actually, you're lucky you are not in the hospital, Daddy," Nabiki scolded him. "According to Ryuu, you drank the entire American delegation under the table. You consumed over two huge bottles of vodka by yourself in three hours. That's enough to kill at least four men. What the hell were you thinking?"

Soun managed to find the end of the porch without falling off. He latched onto the porch post and managed to sit down. Then he held his head in his hands and said: "I seem to remember being challenged by one of those loud mouths who insisted that Japanese men couldn't hold their liquor. I couldn't let that stand…"

"Idiot!" Nabiki snorted. Mousse kept his mouth shut.

"Well, you proved your point, I guess," Nodoka said with a sniff. "Congratulations. Your son-in-law – you know, the doctor? – says your blood alcohol was still at 0.75% when he checked on you this morning."

"All right, so that's a little high," Soun said grudgingly.

"THAT'S DEAD, MORON!" Nodoka yelled at him. Soun wrapped his head to hide his ears. "ANY OTHER TIME OF YEAR AND WE'D BE BURYING YOU RIGHT NOW!" Nabiki's eyes widened at Nodoka's words. Mousse just winced.

"I think I'll go back to bed now," Soun moaned.

"You do that, brother," Nodoka said with another sniff while turning her back on him.

Soun staggered up and then looked at the dojo. "Is the dojo glowing?" he asked.

"You're drunk, Daddy. Go back to bed," Nabiki told him.

"I'm sure it's glowing," he said. "Where are your sisters?" he asked.

"They are busy, Daddy. Go back to bed," Nabiki repeated.

"No, no. I'm sure the dojo is glowing. I need to find out what's going on," he said.

Mousse sighed and pulled a mallet out from under the porch. He handed it to Nabiki, who had a resigned face as she handed it to Nodoka. Nodoka stood up as Soun tried to walk toward the dojo and hit him on the back of the head expertly. Soun hit the ground cleanly.

"Mousse? If you don't mind?" Nodoka asked while pointing at Soun with the mallet. Mousse nodded and stood up. With a casual ease, he picked Soun up and threw the unconscious man over his shoulder. Then Mousse carried Soun inside.

Nabiki sighed in turn and asked: "0.75%? That's beyond lethal. I thought he was just burning it up fast."

Nodoka nodded her head and answered seriously: "Yes, but don't overreact to it – he wouldn't have been able to drink that much in the first place if it wasn't for the date." Then she gave a half-smile and said: "But we can make him suffer for it anyway." Nabiki just returned the half-smile.

* * *

Toshio Kuno stood in his Nerima estate watching one of his staff mages finish the Circle. "I want the women to survive," he warned the man. "I will take their deaths very personally."

"I'm adding overload protections, Sir!" the mage answered promptly.

Kuno nodded and turned to one of his agents. "Are Ms. Blake and Ms. Ninomiya on their way?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," the agent answered. "They are very anxious to try this experiment."

"Please make sure no one offers them any false hopes," Kuno cautioned. "Their psychic vampirism may not be curable. My primary purpose is to drain as much stagnation as we can from the Nexus as quickly as possible and limit this madness. I'll admit that I'd like to see them rewarded for their efforts, but I cannot guarantee anything other than money."

"Yes, sir," the agent answered again.

"Hopefully," he thought privately. "Between this and everything else going on, we can drain off the spoiled power and avoid any malignancies."

* * *

Ukyo stood in her empty restaurant and threw darts at the calendar. "I hate the Equinoxes!" she thought. "Each one is always trouble, and this time, we are shattering all the records. Normally, people get a little spirited (in more ways than one) and a little less restrained so there are a few more fights, but I've never seen Nerima so out of control! All the ghosts have fled and instead we have raw magic wandering about the streets! I've never been hit so bloody hard either! I've broken several dishes by snapping them in half accidentally – now I know how Akane or Ryoga use to feel." She walked up to the calendar and removed the darts she had embedded in the wall – through the calendar pages. "This sucks!" she yelled out loud.

* * *

Hideo grumbled at the forces of Fate: "Why couldn't I have stayed in bed with my wife?"

Unfortunately, he knew very well why. As one of the Guardians of Nerima, he was out trying to ground out as many Power pools as possible before they invoked something – for good or evil. Many of his neighbors knew (or at least strongly suspected) that Hideo was a mage. They knew it from his even disposition, the atmosphere of his florist shop, his gift with plants, and from dealing with his forthright wife ("only a Mage could tame the She-Wolf"). As a result, anytime something unusual showed up, the gossip chain brought it to his attention. Now, Judge Sanu had somehow picked up on that and joined the gossip chain.

Up ahead, his Sight saw the latest cause for concern – it looked like a purple cloud of roiling mist stalking the streets. "That one's bad," he thought grimly. "It goes." With a thought, he called it to himself, but it didn't come. "Oh crap – it's oriented on someone." He launched into a fast run – his mage training forced him to stay in good shape.

Through the mist, he could see a young mother and her son. They were hurrying along, the mother looking over her shoulder. She obviously couldn't See the cloud of wild Magic stalking her, but she knew something was wrong. The child, a boy of three years old, looked like he could See it though. He was pulling on his mother, but she didn't understand. Hideo called out: "It's real – RUN!" Between the mother's justified paranoia and seeing a large man running toward her, the woman hit panic mode, snatched up her child, and ran.

The cloud began flowing faster as well though, so Hideo did something he rarely did – he threw a bolt of pure magic at it – much like a Chi blast. The bolt hit the cloud and it turned on him immediately. "Oh hell, it's gain sentience," Hideo thought urgently. The cloud then launched its own bolt back at Hideo. The mage hit the dirt and rolled out of the way. "If I can get it to throw more bolts, it will fall apart." Hideo got up and hit it again, but the mist resumed pursuit of the woman and child.

Meanwhile, the child had slipped free of his mother. "Senji!" she called out. Senji picked up a rock and threw it at the cloud. The cloud sent a tendril toward the brave child.

"Shouldn't have turned your back on me!" Hideo yelled out, hoping to distract it. The magic continued to reach for the child, so it was wide open when Hideo reached the mist and Spiked it. There was a flash of light and the cloud drained into the ground. Hideo fell forward and crashed onto the pavement. The boy ran to Hideo.

"Senji!" the mother called out again as Senji knelt down to look at Hideo.

"All right?" the boy asked Hideo.

Hideo pushed himself up to sit on his knees and looked at Senji. "You know, little man, a little prudence might be good for you." The boy shyly smiled at him before his mother pulled him toward her.

She looked over her son and then looked at Hideo. "I saw the flash," she said without preamble. "What was that?"

"Nothing good, but it's gone," Hideo said as he picked himself up. Then he bent down and touched Senji's forehead. "Nothing, he's fine."

"You're the florist over by the train station, aren't you – there are rumors about you," she said.

Hideo chuckled. "Nothing good, I'm sure," he said. Then he looked at the woman's eyes. "Your son has the Gift." She bit her lip. "It's not that bad, but here." He reached into his pocket and took out a quartz crystal. "This will keep things to a dull roar until he's older."

"He's forever losing things," she told Hideo.

Hideo held the crystal out to the boy who took it eagerly. "This, he won't lose. On the odd chance he does, stop by and I'll give you another. When he gets older, he'll come to me himself for instruction." She just sighed. Hideo's phone went off. It was Shizuka, so he answered immediately. "Hey lady," he answered. "What's up?"

"Hi Love," she replied. "Sanu has another one for you. 'Blue' this time."

"All right, let me have it," he told her. She gave him the location and they said their 'Goodbyes'.

Hideo turned back to the mother. "I have to go."

"Another one?" she asked.

He nodded and added: "You may want Senji to stay home for the day…"

* * *

Henna left her fortress/house and walked toward the Village. The sky was not yet lightening over the Bayankala Mountains, but she wanted plenty of time to setup for the ceremony. "With any luck, I can gather a good deal of power at the Sunrise ceremony," she thought. "With the Sprite weakening, I need it badly. I've wasted a good deal of it trying to kill Akane Tendo, but she seems immune to my magic!"

Henna stopped and blew out an angry breath. "Any Elemental I send against her vanishes. So did my assassins! My Blood Magic back-fired and I took damage. She never even saw the demon I sent – Ranma intercepted it and slew it." She looked at the heavens and screamed: "WHO GAVE HIM A BLESSED KATANA?!" (1)

She stood there and fumed for several minutes and then started forward again. "She's just a girl," she muttered. "How is she dodging everything? There has to be more to this! Am I being set up again? Is she just another distraction like the Unryu girl? Neither one of them shows any alignment to the Water Realm. But if she is a distraction, who's setting them up? And what's the real plan?"

* * *

Footnotes:

(1) The story of Ranma's katana will be told in "Heroes".

* * *

A/N: Next up - Different Couples


	3. Different Couples

Chapter 3: Different Couples

Ukyo thoughts continued as she sulked in her empty restaurant: "There's no business this morning. Everyone is busy with having their fight-or-flight instinct overloaded and they usually decide 'flight' is not an option. Then there's the other famous 'F'-word." She walked back and threw the darts at the 21st square on the calendar again – she wasn't missing. "Gods! I hope Yuka is on the pill or Hiroshi knows what a condom is." The chef had seen Hiroshi and Yuka walking about town this morning when she went to buy fresh toppings. Ukyo had been tempted to run up and knock out both of them, but from the way the couple was making 'doe-eyes' at each other, Ukyo thought it was probably too late anyway. "At least they are in love," she sighed.

Konatsu walked in just then and turned on the grill. He was wearing his restaurant uniform, similar to Ukyo's. Ever since the visit to Akari's farm last month, the male Kunoichi had started wearing more androgynous clothes and makeup. The results were…interesting. Beforehand, when the Kunoichi wore women's clothes, he had men drooling at him. Now, the ninja had men and women looking at him speculatively. Some were trying to decide his sex, but many had made up their minds one way or another and were being appreciative. He was like a dancer on a stage now, using his skills to entrance them all. Even Ukyo found herself watching his graceful movements in fascination.

"What are you doing, Konatsu?" Ukyo asked him.

"We haven't eaten, Mistress. I'm sorry things are quiet this morning, but we still need to take care of ourselves," he answered. His face paint glistened in the grill lights, giving him an otherworldly look – almost like an elf out of Tolkien. "I'll make a garlic loaf and we can have some fruit with it."

She sighed. He was right, they had to eat. "Throw a little salt into it, and use butter, not the lard," she told him. "We are doing O.K. There's no need to be on penny rations." That was true enough. Ever since Ukyo had settled with Ranma, business had grown. Those who supported Ranma's and Akane's relationship had been avoiding the restaurant, but once Ukyo started to support the couple, the avoidance stopped. Ucchan's was a perfect high school hangout, so the kids were turning up in droves and even dragging their parents along every now and then. The "grown-up" business was also booming.

Konatsu gave her a slight smile and said: "As you wish, Mistress." He concentrated on their meal then. Ukyo went back to her dart game (and watching her assistant discretely). When the pan-fried loaf was done, Konatsu set the table and set out the food with some orange juice. "If you throw those darts any harder, I'm going to have to replace the beam," he teased. "Come eat, Mistress." She sighed and did as he asked.

They ate in silence. Ukyo finished her meal and looked across at her assistant as he drank his juice. Finally, she stretched out an arm on the table and placed her forehead on it. Before Konatsu could say anything, Ukyo burst out: "How the hell can you be so calm? It feels like I have my finger stuck in an electric socket!"

Konatsu looked at his boss, and debated his answer. Finally, he reached out and rubbed one of her shoulders. "I'm not calm, Ukyo. I'm just good at projecting what I want people to see," he said in a comforting voice. "Here, watch!" Ukyo lifted her head and looked at him. Konatsu held up his hands in front of his face, about a decimeter apart. Ukyo's eyes widened as she saw glowing wisps of something mist-like moving back and forth between his hands. "I am a Kunoichi – we are trained to be grace under pressure," he said with a shrug. "But I feel the Power too."

She gave him a half-smile. "I'm not sure that makes me feel better, but I appreciate the attempt," she told him.

He smiled at her and then seemed to make up his mind about something. "Come," he ordered standing up. "There will be no trade until after the Equinox occurs. Hopefully, we can catch the lunchtime crowd."

"Huh? Where are we going?" Ukyo asked puzzled.

"You have a Kunoichi in your service, but you have never asked me to use any of my Kunoichi skills," he stated.

"W-What?" Ukyo stuttered out while blushing a bright red.

"Not that," Konatsu said with a roll of the eyes. "I know you better than that. Despite your choice of reading material, you're a prude – casual sex is not your thing." There was a teasing tone in his voice that Ukyo never heard before and the smile on his face was almost a smirk. Ukyo would have smacked him with her spatula (mostly to cover her embarrassment), but he had never talked to her like that and she was caught off-guard (and she didn't have it on her anyway). His expression sobered and he continued firmly: "Your Chi flows are a mess. That's why you're having trouble dealing with the extra energy. We are going to fix them now." With that he turned at walked over to the front door, and then locked it. He adjusted the "Closed" sign to say "Back at 11:30AM". Ukyo hadn't moved from her chair.

Konatsu walked over to the table and half-knelt to looked her in the face. "Mistress, you know I would never do anything to harm you. I adore you. Please trust me. Come," he requested holding out a hand. Ukyo found herself responding to his silky voice and took his hand. He led her upstairs and took her to her room. He searched through her clothing until he found three outfits. One was a bikini bathing suit, another was a light T-shirt and sweat pants, and the third was a tank top and running shorts. "The better access I have to your back, the better this will work," he said softly and persuasively. "But you have to be comfortable and feel secure. Pick an outfit and meet me in the living room." His words seem to slip directly into her brain and she just nodded.

Konatsu walked out and closed the door. He hoped she trusted him enough that the suggestion would stay with her. "Now's the time to find out," he thought. He cleared a space on the floor and laid the couch cushions on it. He also arranged for two pillows for Ukyo to rest her head on. He was just getting out some sheets when Ukyo came out of her room, dressed in the bikini, but wearing the running shorts over the bikini bottoms. She was also trembling slightly. "Perfect," he whispered to her reassuringly from where he was sitting on the floor. He was also projecting reassurance in his posture. "Just lie down on your stomach and rest your head on the pillows," he requested. Ukyo started to do so, but she was still hesitating. Konatsu reached up and tapped one of her shoulders.

The results were rather dramatic. Instantly the trembling stopped and a relieved look flowed across Ukyo's face. "Oh crap," she breathed out as some of the tension left her body.

"You've seen what I can do for total strangers. How much better will I do for you?" he told her softly. Ukyo was too lost in relief from her stress to do more than nod. She lay down on her stomach. He draped a sheet over her lower body as he explained: "To help keep you warm until I switch to your lower legs." He then rolled up some small towels and placed them alongside her chest and added: "Use your arms to snug these in as you wish. They define your comfort zone by marking where your 'back' ends and your 'sides' begin. If you cannot set them high enough, I'll get a thicker roll. You just have to ask." Ukyo adjusted the towels without saying a word. She was not use to exposing her weaknesses like this, but Konatsu's professional tone convinced her to keep moving forward. As she settled, Konatsu said: "Good, all the shiatsu points I need are available. Just relax."

Konatsu touched the base of the neck on either side and Ukyo's had to stop herself from groaning out loud. The Kunoichi began massaging her neck and shoulders firmly and Ukyo could feel the muscles tighten and then loosen – a lot. He slowly worked his way down her back. At the strap of her bikini, he used one hand to stop the strap from shifting as he worked a shiatsu points directly under the strap, then he continued on down her back. It was one of the most wonderful sensations Ukyo could remember. She tensed again when his hands began to approach her rump, but he split his massaging motions to work down the outside of her hips, over her shorts. His movements relied on knuckles and the flat of his fists instead of his fingertips, allowing her to relax again. He seemed to draw all her tension down her sides into her legs. He then moved the sheet to cover her back and worked his hands down her legs, continuing to draw her tension down her body until it seemed that he forced it all out of her feet. Had she looked at the floor under her feet hanging off the cushions, Ukyo expected she would see some red and yellow fluid – her tension milked out of her. "Oh gods," she muttered. "That feels wonderful."

Konatsu chuckled and said: "I haven't done anything yet – just given you a preparatory treatment. But I won't be touching any place I haven't already. Do you trust me?"

"I'm still here, aren't I?" she answered with a little laugh.

"Good. Just keep relaxing then," he answered. Ukyo swore she heard something smug in his voice, but then again he always was confident of his abilities. He moved the sheet down over her legs again and started on her back once more. Ukyo felt as if he was digging channels in her back, but she felt no pain – quite the opposite. She was also surprised she felt no arousal. The pleasure she felt was not sexual, just pure relaxation.

At one point and time, he had her stretch her arms straight out alongside her head and look down along her arms as he worked his hands toward her own hands. She moved her head to look between her hands and watched in fascination as she saw the glowing mist moving back and forth between her own hands. "Better and better," was all Konatsu said.

Finally, Konatsu said: "All done."

"O.K., I'd be lying if I didn't say that felt absolutely fantastic," Ukyo said.

She heard Konatsu chuckle again and he replied: "You're welcome, Mistress."

"Give me a moment and I'll get up – I don't feel like moving right this second," Ukyo told him. she rotated her head to look at him. He was sitting near her.

"No hurry," he said as he stood up. "I'm going to work the knots out of my own legs though." She watched as he stretched out the kinks, once more secretly admiring his dancer's body, but, somewhere in there, Ukyo closed her eyes, and fell asleep. Konatsu noticed and smiled. Then he retrieved a blanket from the back of the couch, and gently covered her. Lightly, he stole a kiss to her forehead, and whispered: "Sleep well, beloved. I'll watch over the store." Quietly, the ninja went back downstairs.

As soon as he was gone, Ukyo's eyes opened. Her gaze was very thoughtful…

* * *

Sayuri snuck into the school pool wearing her one-piece bathing suit and slipped into the cold water. The pool had recently been filled and 'icy' was a better description for the water. The relief to her system was immediate though. She swam for a little bit until she heard footsteps behind her on the pool deck. She turned quickly to see Daisuke watching her.

"One: you shouldn't be swimming alone," he started. "Two: is it working?" She nodded her head so he said: "Good!" Then he tossed his phone and wallet on the pile of her clothes and dove into the water otherwise dressed. He came up and mumbled: "Gods, it's cold!"

"You're insane!" she called out.

"No, I was insane. I'm starting to feel normal now. It's a good thing the school is closed for the holiday. I may stay here until after 10AM." With that, he began to strip, throwing his wet clothes up on the deck. He watched her eyes widened so he added: "Relax. The pants stay on. Besides, my hard-on is gone. I've never had so many cold-showers in one day."

Sayuri sighed and replied: "I know the feeling. I thought maybe it was just me."

"No, everyone's on edge. The water pressure in the town is down," he half-laughed as he pulled off his shoes.

"Everyone?" she quizzed sinking back into the water.

"Let's see: those in Love are either in bed or holding back the tide; the martial artists are whaling on each other; the Mages are trying to dump as much power to their wards as possible, those with the Sight are in hiding…" she replied.

"So why are you and I hit so hard?" She cut in. "We're not anything special."

Daisuke sank back into the cold water with another half-laugh. "Speak for yourself," he shot back. She made a rude, half-mocking gesture at him and he chuckled. Then he said in grand tones: "But we are special, my dear. *We* are the creative ones. We build, we draw, we paint… *we sing* …" he added the last one while looking directly at her. "…new things into being. This causes our neighbors to notice us, and, the more they notice us, the more Nerima notices us. And the more Nerima notices us…"

"The more Power flows through us," Sayuri finished. Daisuke nodded soberly. "So when did you become so smart?" she teased in mock-annoyance.

"I've always been brilliant," he shot back with false airs and his nose held high which got him a laugh.

"So what do we do?" she asked.

"We soak off the sexual energy until we're back in control again…" he started.

"And…" she prompted.

"And we go to my house under the careful eye of my mom. You sing an original composition, I work the instruments, and we try to crank out a Top 40 tune…" he smirked. "You never know until you try…"

Her eyes widened again and a dazzling smile formed on her face.

* * *

Earlier that morning…

Ryoga and Akari rolled apart and then snuggled back together again in their bed. "I wonder what time it is," Ryoga pondered in a hushed voice.

"The sun's up, so it's about 6AM or so," Akari answered.

Ryoga laughed quietly. "So how long do I have to be a farmer before I get your sense of time?"

His wife-to-be grinned back. "I've been a farmer all my life. Give it fifteen years or so."

They lay there for a few minutes before Akari said: "Well, that was fun but I'm still not really tired."

Ryoga nodded. "I've never been so restless in my life. We don't live in Nerima. Why the hell are we affected? This is worse than when Ranma is in the Cat Fist."

Akari tapped him on the nose. "You already know the answer. We are part of the Nerima crowd too."

He thought about that for a minute and then sighed. "Yeah, we are. I'm sorry you got caught too though."

"I'm not," she replied. "I wouldn't exchange them for any price. The Equinox will pass. How about we get up and grab some breakfast? Later on we can get ready and head to the dojo a day early."

"It's not like there's anything for us to do here," Ryoga laughed.

"No, I'd say we are definitely all caught up," Akari agreed. "If we don't leave some work for the others, they'll start fearing for their jobs – again."

After breakfast, Ryoga was cleaning tools in the barn (for the second time) when all his silent alarm bells went off. He managed to brace himself just before Katsunishiki plowed into him and knocked him out of the barn and into the yard. Immediately, he stood and leaped over the charging sumo pig. "What the hell?" he yelled as he vaulted the animal's broad back. Katsunishiki skidded to a stop and almost seemed to grin momentarily at the Lost Boy before he charged again. Instantly, Ryoga recognized the situation. "Oh, you want to play, do you?!" he shouted at the pig. He then dove under the pig and lifted Katsunishiki up, tossing the animal across the yard. Katsunishiki landed hard, but didn't seem to notice as he quickly righted himself and leaped high into the air. Ryoga was stunned that the sumo pig could get that much clearance. In fact, he was so stunned that he didn't get out of the way in time and was flattened as Katsunishiki landed on top of him. "All right," he called from underneath the pig. "You get a point for that." Ryoga rolled into a ball under the animal (making a crater in the ground while doing it) until he managed to get his legs into position. Then he used his Earth Magic to firm the earth under him and give him a brace to launch the pig skyward. "And I get a point for the escape!" Ryoga proclaimed to the airborne Katsunishiki.

Katsunishiki fell spayed-legged on the ground and popped up again. With a happy snort, he charged at Ryoga, only to be knocked sideways as Akari ran across the yard and caught him with her shoulder. "Katsunishiki is *my* pet!" she shouted. "I get to play too!" The sumo pig rolled upright while making a chortling sound.

The three combatants continued the bash on each other for the better part of half-an-hour. Since the fighting was in fun, they managed not to trash the yard too badly and leave the barn standing. The hay bales inside the barn were completely wrecked though. Fortunately, winter was done and the bales were nearing the end of their usefulness. The fighters eventually collapsed into the impromptu haystack.

Akari was exhausted as she crawled over to where Ryoga lay. Katsunishiki wasn't far away. "Guess who's also tied into Nerima?" Akari posed to Ryoga as she lay her head on his chest.

"All right, he goes with us," Ryoga agreed. "After we recover…" he added drowsily.

* * *

The two women approached the gathering working feverishly on the grounds of the Kuno compound. Toshio saw them and motioned for them to step around the gathering as he moved to meet them. "Miss Ninomiya, Miss Blake," Toshio Kuno welcomed them. "Thank you for coming."

Ciren nodded and asked bluntly: "What's our chance for success?"

"Slim," he answered. "We're erring on the side of caution. The Circle is designed to choke back the Power flow. You'll be fighting against the Circle as much as the Power. This way, you can't invoke more than you'll survive."

"But if you remove the chokes, we'll have a better chance to break our curses," Hinako stated.

"You mean a better chance to die," Kuno said sternly. "And if you die, I'm a dead man. I stand no chance of surviving your friends' wrath." Both women were taken aback by his assessment. "As promised, I've had the Circle arranged so you can drain as much power as you can pull in, but the rest of the power released will dissipate harmlessly. The Circle will not dump the energy into you, you have to take it."

"Remove the chokes," Ciren demanded.

Kuno crossed his arms. "No. My way or the highway. I'll close this down right now and find another way to release the corrupted Power." The ladies turned to leave. "How many women will die in childbirth today?" he asked them. "How many incurable cases of cancer will start today? How many suicides could you have stopped if you stayed?"

Ciren turned back. "Cold, very cold," she told him. Hinako stopped.

"You have the power to help pop a festering sore," he replied unapologetically. "That insatiable hunger of yours could actually save lives. Maybe you can't solve the disease all by yourselves, but you can quarantine it and limit the spread of the infection. You can turn your backs on me, but can you turn your backs on the innocent?"

Hinako turned and locked eyes with Kuno, but in the end, her shoulders shrugged, even if she didn't look away. "What are the chances?" she asked.

"The chances of saving lives? Certainty," Kuno answered. "The chances of restoring your proper aura?" He shrugged. "Maybe five percent."

Hinako turned to look at Ciren. Something seemed to pass between them and Hinako stated. "Five percent is better than none," the little teacher said.

Ciren nodded and then addressed Kuno: "All right. We're in."

* * *

A/N: Next up - We go to the Dream Realm and check back with Ranma and Akane in "Interlude"


	4. Interlude

Chapter 4: Interlude

Meanwhile, in Ranma's the Spirit/Dream realm...

The young girl materialized in the plaza between the three temples and looked around for her brother. She was about ten years old with blue-black hair and brown eyes. Even the grumpiest person would have to admit she was a cute little lady in her yellow sundress. She spied her target sitting on top of the Yang temple, looking out of the temple complex. "Rera!" she shouted. Her brother turned to wave at her, but didn't move otherwise. She ran at the temple and jumped to lightly land on the roof. Rera watched as she climbed up to him. "What are you doing Rera?" she asked.

Her brother was a sturdy boy, about the same age she was. His blue eyes looked at her mischievously out from under his black hair. He was wearing a clean white gi, tied with a sky blue belt. With a naughty grin, he pointed out across the fields that lined one side of the temple complex. Apay looked out in the direction indicated. She saw two people lying in the grass. An ordinary ten-year old girl might have said that they were wrestling, even though they were missing their clothes. Apay wasn't close to ordinary though, so she turned to Rera and doped-slapped him while yelling "Voyeur!"

Rera's look was unrepentant. He turned and indicated the couple again. "I've always known about love-making, but I never really understood it. Now I do," he commented. "To call it 'sex' or 'coupling' or even 'mating' sells it short. Once you add Love, it really becomes something special."

Apay rolled her eyes and said: "Mind your own business and leave them alone."

Rera looked at his sister and chuckled: "Ranma is my business, and so is Akane. They are your business too."

Apay rolled her eyes again and firmly grabbed Rera's hand. Then she teleported both of them to near the fountain in the center of the plaza. He was still sitting on the ground looking at her with amusement. "Honestly!" she exclaimed. "They've been at it two hours in the waking world and managed to finally wear themselves out and fall asleep. Then they come to the Dream realm and continue?"

Rera laughingly replied: "They won't wear out here!" He then dodged another dope-slap from his sister. "Oh please," he snorted. "You find this interesting too!"

Apay crinkled her nose at him and then admitted: "All right, I do. They have had to put up with enough garbage over the years and I'm happy to see them finally rise above it. Hopefully, they won't have any regrets about the Equinox pushing them."

Rera waved his hand dismissingly and stated: "The Equinox didn't do anything. Since today is exactly one year before their wedding, both of them wanted to make this a special day. He was hopeful, but had planned a nice evening for them without pushing her. She was planning on this morning before the Equinox started interfering."

"Well, I hope you're right," Apay replied. "Anyway, that's not why I came here."

Rera raised a right eyebrow and asked: "What's up?"

Apay looked at Rera and sighed: "I want to talk about Sister while our Guardians are distracted."

Rera's face conveyed his complete lack of interest. "There's nothing to talk about," he stated.

"Oh come on! You're not going to hold a grudge are you?" she wheedled.

"A grudge?" he asked mildly surprised. "You think I bare a grudge? We spend nine hundred years locked away, our power drained by a greedy witch. All because our Sister did something extremely foolish and unwise, and sold us out in an unsuccessful bid to escape some pain. Then a handful of poor humans have to be sacrificed to bail us out," he said evenly. "And if that's not bad enough, those same humans don't even get a peaceful death, but have to be dragged back from the dead and saddled with us for the rest of their mayfly lives. A grudge? Why in Kama-Sama's Name would you think I bear a grudge?" he finished. He gave Apay a rather direct look. "Did I miss anything?" he asked.

Apay sighed. "Not really," she admitted. "But she is family."

"Well, so are Ranma, Akane, and Ryoga now. I'm going to concentrate on getting them through the Storm. I owe them that much," he said. "So do you."

"Yes," she agreed quickly enough. "Suma feels the same way. But he thinks there may be a way to save Sister as well, without hurting our Guardians."

Rera's expression became indifferent again. "Suma will rule the next Cycle. It's his call. He can expect my full cooperation in whatever idiocy he comes up with so long as the humans' chances are not decreased. When Ryoga falls asleep, Suma can come discuss his plan with me."

Apay winced as she pushed out the next words: "Actually, he doesn't have a plan, and he wants you to rule the next Cycle."

"WHAT?!" Rera yelled. "I ruled just before Sister! She's only had it for a few thousand years!"

"And she screwed it up royally," Apay pressed. "You kept things running for millions of years!"

"Oh, and the last few Ice Ages were such fun!" he tossed back. "Kami-Sama is still sore about those!"

"Actually, He's not. He just wanted to give you a break," Apay said consolingly. "Things worked during the Ice Ages. Yes, a lot of creatures died, but a lot more survived. Life became stronger and hardier. You watched over everything and always made sure the smart ones had a way out. And not all the extinctions were your fault – if any. You just thought you were at fault."

"It's Suma's turn!" Rera grated out.

"Henna has done a lot of damage to the Earth. It's going to take all of Suma's brain power to fix it. He knows he's not that bright. He knows he won't be able to fix the planet and rule." The wheedling tone had crept back into Apay's voice. "I can't follow Sister – we'd have a little pile of cinders. It has to be either you or Suma – I'll rule the Cycle after that. Besides, you're smarter than Suma and me put together."

"Which means you want me to figure out how to save Sister – if that's even possible!" he growled.

"Please?" she begged using Akane's puppy-dog eyes. Unfortunately, Rera had modeled himself after Ranma a little too closely. He groaned and fell back to lie down on the plaza. "Please?" Apay reiterated looking down on him. "Please?"

"Fine," he moaned finally. "But if - *if* - I can pull this off, I'm going to confine her. She will not get a free hand for the next two Cycles and when her turn comes to rule again, I get veto power over her. She will not be able to make any more stupid bargains. And the safety of the six of us take priority over hers."

Apay beamed at him and clapped her hands together. Then she knelt down and hugged him. Rera thought to himself: "All right, there are worse sensations than being hugged by her."

Suddenly a quiet Voice sounded in the area about the Siblings: "***Thank you***"

Apay sat up and grinned at the wide-eyed expression on Rera's face. "I told you He wasn't mad at you!" she laughed. Rera just laid there stunned for a bit. Apay watched as Kami-Sama's Blessing seemed to fill Rera with a sparkling light, and then faded into the once and future Elemental King.

Eventually, Rera sat up and took a big breath. "All right," he started. "First order of business: tweaking 'big brother's' nose." He made a gesture and a large wide-mouth cannon appeared in the plaza. It raised its muzzle to the sky and fired with a large booming sound that shook the Realm.

Now, Apay sat there stunned. "What did you do that for?" she asked.

"Getting even with you for talking me into this mess," Rera answered smugly. "Bye!" Rera called as he tore off towards the Cat temple. Apay was confused for a few moments until she saw Akane and Ranma run through the plaza's open gates. Both of them were dressed in their gis now. They didn't look upset per se, but they did look determined.

"Oh crap," Apay thought. "You jackass!" she yelled as she chased after Rera with the two teenagers pursuing her.

* * *

Ranma woke up first with a grin on his face and waited for Akane to wake as well. He didn't have to wait long as she stretched and giggled softly. She opened her sparkling chocolate eyes and looked at her fiancé with a smile. Then she said: "We are not even married yet and already we have children disturbing our 'private time'."

"Only in the Dream realm," Ranma laughed. "And you went light on Apay by tickling her."

"Oh please," Akane said dismissingly. "Rera set her up."

"My ward?" Ranma protested. "How can you claim that about my ward?"

Akane gave him a very direct look. "Tell me he didn't," she challenged.

"Not with a straight face," Ranma smirked. "Sometimes he can be a little shit." Akane laughed and snuggled in closer to her lover. Ranma held her tight and added: "That's all right; I didn't let him get away. Still, the look on her face was priceless, just before she ran after him. She did not see it coming."

"Nope," Akane agreed.

"Is everything all right with you two? I mean has she given you any grief about us?" he asked.

"What?" Akane said confused for a moment, but the moment passed. "No, no. She knew you were part of me the day she showed up. No matter how much we fought in the past, that was never an issue. She's very happy for us. For that matter, the fighting has dropped off all together. We've grown use to each other now. We know how to give each other space and when not to." Akane chuckled: "She's actually became quite snuggly lately. She no longer rejects reassurances." Akane's voice became worried as she asked: "Why? Is Rera concerned?"

Ranma shook his head lightly. "No, he's not. I was just asking. Rera is happy for us and that is that. As long as I stop by every night, he seems happy and satisfied. He's also started sneaking into my conscious state, like some of the cat spirits do. I think he's just curious like they are. Unlike them, he retreats when it's just you and I though."

"That's interesting," Akane commented. "Apay's always stole into my consciousness. We fought about that every now and then, but she's learned the boundaries now. She's often there during school, and tags along when I'm with Yuka and Sayuri – very much like a little sister. But she's vanishes now when it's just you and me." Akane laughed again and added: "She does tease me a lot after one of our dates though."

Ranma nodded a little and then said: "Well excuse me, but I need to hit the toilet. I should probably swipe us some food too." He got out of the bed and threw on some pajamas.

"I am a little hungry," Akane admitted. "Let me know before you go to the house and I'll use the toilet after you."

Ranma nodded at tossed a set of sweats to her. "Just in case Mousse is about," he explained. "I don't share – not even glimpses," he added smiling. Akane smiled back.

As Ranma opened the door, light came streaming in through the doorway. The hallway was glowing brightly. "Whoa!" Akane said from the bed as she finished putting on the sweatshirt.

"Um, yeah," were Ranma's only words.

"What is that?" Akane asked as she threw on the pants and came to the door.

She watched as Ranma touched the outside wall next to the door frame. At his touch a little circle of light emerged and faded. "See for yourself," he replied.

Akane reached out and touched the same spot he did. Another circle formed at her touch and dissipated as the first did. "That's us!" she said. "Or at least our Love!"

Ranma nodded. "We somehow pulled Power from the Nexus while we were making love and it took after us. It's formed a Protection around us because we wanted privacy."

"Is it an issue?" Akane asked.

Ranma shook his head. "Not really. The dojo is ours though until it dissipates or we release it. I may want to ask Mousse if he needs anything from his room though. It won't let him in."

"Actually, you don't," Akane said. Ranma looked at her quizzically and she pointed at their feet. He looked down and saw a tray of food set on the floor of the hallway. There was a note from Ranma's mother on the tray. "She must have dropped it off before the Protection took."

Ranma picked up the note and read it. Then he shook his head. "Here," he said. I'll be right back."

Akane accepted the note as he left. It read: "I've grabbed some clean clothes for Mousse and his work gear. Enjoy the food and see you later! – Mom."

Akane bent down to look at the food and burst out laughing. "Let's see: Chocolate, strawberries, honey, figs, avocados, coffee, pomegranate, almonds, fish, arugula, and a bottle of red wine. Mother Saotome, you're as subtle as a brick," she thought. "I'm glad I took my pill before I came here. I'm also glad I keep them hidden in case you backslide. I'm definitely not ready for kids yet." There were also a few foods on the tray that were not aphrodisiacs, like the nice bread, but they were concessions to round out the meal." Ranma came back as she was still looking at the food, so she picked it up and handed the tray to him. "Here, take it inside. I'll be back quickly," she told him.

A short while later, she walked back into the room. Ranma was sitting on the bed with the tray. He looked up from the food and quizzed: "Let me guess – this food supposedly encourages sex?"

Akane grinned. "Yep. Most of it," she answered.

Ranma sighed and asked: "Are you sure she doesn't know where you hide your birth control pills?"

Akane burst out in a laugh. "Yes," she replied. "And Tofu has set a 'tell' around all three sets, although he's sure she would never tamper with Nabiki's."

"O.K., too much information about Nabiki," Ranma said with a pained look. "And why would she tamper with Kasumi's?"

Akane gave him a wicked smile and said: "Because she's willing to settle for grand-nieces if she can't get grandchildren right now." Then she laughed at his shocked expression. "Seriously," she continued with a smile. "I doubt very much she would touch anyone's. She's not the same woman she was a year ago, but she would tease and mock-threaten Kasumi and me if she knew. Your mom's become very playful since she got better. Tofu's 'tells' are for safety's sake, not because of your mother. There are a lot of busybodies in Nerima, and not all of them are mortal."

Ranma recovered his composure and looked at the food. He said with more than a trace of understatement: "All right, maybe my mother does like to play a few games."

"Just a few," Akane laughed. She decided that Ranma really didn't need to know that there were four sets of birth control pills in the house – and none of them belonged to Ranko.

* * *

Henna stood with the eleven other women around the outdoor Council Circle, all wrapped in their robes waiting to perform the Equinox Ceremony. On top of the tallest building in the Village was a prism waiting for the first rays of the sun to illuminate it and refract the sunlight into the large crystal standing at the center of the Circle. There were eight other women standing in a second surrounding Circle. Beyond the second Circle were most of the villagers watching the solemn rite. Razor was serving as the lead Celebrant, intoning the ancient words in a steady and stately voice.

Henna probed her surroundings with her mind looking for the telltale wisps of Magic that would indicate the local Power flows responding to the ceremony. "Nothing yet," she thought. "A little odd, but it's early. Should happen soon."

At an appropriate moment in the ceremony, Razor intoned: "We Amazons are one people with one Heart. Let those who are distant from us join us now." Then Razor paused expectantly. Henna heard the thoughts of Amazons not present in the Village murmuring in the air. "Let us all join in," Razor stated.

Now Henna heard the gentle thoughts of the villagers present merge into the murmuring. "Now we all pool our minds and pull Power from the Elements. Once that happens, I can feed on the power," Henna thought.

The murmuring grew stronger as the villagers grew more comfortable with the ceremony, but, suddenly, a discordant whisper ran through the murmuring. "What the hell is that?" Henna wondered. The whisper started out just at the edge of hearing, but grew steadily.

"Focus, everyone," Razor called out. "You're all a little distracted. Focus!" The whisper grew though – indistinct phrases sounded that soon caused real whispering to move among the crowd. "Focus!" Razor cried again. Try as the Elders might to quell the disturbance and offer reassurance, the discordance grew.

Up above, the prism lit up under the first rays of the sun. A beam of light illuminated the large crystal in the center of the Circle, causing it to glow gently. Now the whisper resolved itself into a low chain of words from multiple speakers: "Free…missing... where is she… free… teacher… abandon… free… lost… free… sick… free… FREE!"

Pain struck Henna's head as a massive migraine settled in her forehead. Razor was still trying to regain control of the Villagers (and the other Elders). Meanwhile, the center crystal flared as the moment of the ceremony came and went. "No!" Henna whispered harshly.

"FREE!"

* * *

A/N: Next up - Transitions (and a few answers).


	5. Transitions

Chapter 5: Transitions

The Sprite opened her eyes and looked out through the murky water of her tank. "Did I just hear laughter?" she thought. She pushed through the water to the side of her tank to look into Henna's bathroom. All the fountains were dry and the tub was empty. "The Handmaiden's are gone!" the Sprite thought. "YES! It has to be the Equinox! That worked at least! There will be a new King or Queen when I die. Henna cannot claim Succession! Thank Kami-Sama!" She sank back into her tank again with relief.

After a little bit, she heard the clicking of Ba walking down the stairs, probably investigating the laughter. He was a demon after all and joyous laughter was not his favorite sound. She ignored him until he stuck his head into her tank (phasing through the glass so not to break it). He grinned at her sour look and condescendingly patted her head, delighted she was still there and oh-so-happy to see him. "Not my favorite person," the Sprite thought with annoyance. Suddenly the house shook from the front door slamming. "Of course, he's Mister Sunshine compared to some others I could name," the Sprite thought.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE NOW?" Henna yelled from the top of the stairs.

"Oh good, sounds like she had a miserable time at the sunrise Equinox ceremony. Maybe she'll finally kill me and we can get on with this," the Sprite thought with amusement. She heard Ba take a seat at the other end of the bathroom. Apparently, he wanted to watch this confrontation. The Sprite moved back to the side of the tank so she could see and made herself comfortable.

Henna stormed into the room. She still looked about forty years old due to the extreme anti-aging magics she was using, but those same magics were taking a toll on her soul. The long hair hiding under her hood had quite a bit of white in it now – almost masking the white lock that Henna had a year ago. The witch stopped suddenly upon seeing Ba and noticing that the water was missing from the tub and the fountains. "Where are the Handmaidens?" Henna burst out.

"Gone," the Sprite said. "They've slipped free of my grasp – and of yours. I can't compel them anymore. Had you been here, you might have been able to stop them, but now it's too late. You can't use them to scrub your grubby little soul anymore." Ba laughed silently and grinned at Henna while flexing his claws.

Henna ignored him and turned on the Sprite instead. "What is the meaning of this?" Henna threw back her hood and took off the gold circlet hiding inside. Or at least, it had been a gold circlet – now it was made of lead. "I couldn't gather any power from the Sunrise ceremonies. I was counting on that power!" Henna screamed.

The Sprite's mouth popped open wide. "That I didn't expect," she said shocked. "I guess I'm no longer Queen now…"

"What?" Henna said; her tirade cut short.

"The crown is destroyed – Kami-Sama has declared a replacement," the Sprite said. She sunk in her tank stunned. The Sprite looked at Henna and asked: "Has there been any sign of my Siblings?"

"Your Siblings are dead!" Henna hissed. "Just like you said, someone used an ancient ceremony to sweep them away. There's no trace of them anywhere! They've gone beyond the Cycles of the World. I never imagined their deaths would be so complete."

The Sprite shook her head and replied: "If that's true, then the Sprites no longer rule the Cycle. We are done."

Henna glared at the Sprite. "Tell me who the new King or Queen is!" Henna demanded.

"I don't know – I can only see the Water Kingdom from here on in. I've lost too much power," the Sprite said with a touch of amazement. "I really am going to die now…" The creature didn't know whether to laugh or cry for a minute or so, but, after that minute, a smile started to grow. "I really am going to leave…wow…"

"When?" Henna demanded.

"Spring is my season. When it ends, the last of my Power will leave, and so will I. The King or Queen will have to declare my replacement by the start of autumn," the Sprite answered absent-mindedly. With that the Sprite turned and disappeared into the gloom of her tank.

"SPRITE!" Henna screamed. "I command that you return!" She started to raise her hand to torture the creature with her magic, but she heard Ba tense in preparation. "Something's wrong," Henna thought. She dropped her hand and Ba relaxed. "The Sprite is too weak. If I do anything, she'll die," she hissed to herself. "For some reason, Ba knows her death will do me in too." She thought about that. "Damn it! I have until the Solstice," she thought. "I have to get rid of the seven Hell contracts, get rid of Ba, and find Power - lots of it…"

* * *

Sasuke sat in his tree, enjoying the lovely spring day – or at least it would be lovely if it wasn't for the reports his radio was constantly spewing out as the other Kuno ninjas tried to keep up with the events of the morning. He checked his watch and thought: "It's almost ten. The peak of the madness will happen soon, and then we just have to wait for the Power to ebb away. The Master wants to short it out, but I'm not sure it's possible to do that."

He glanced at the glowing dojo. He could definitely feel the Power radiating off the building. "Then again, maybe we just need a few more couples like Akane and Ranma," he thought with amusement. "No one is going to bother them until they are ready." He had tried to sneak into the building and check up on them. He didn't want to interrupt the couple, but part of his duties was to watch over them after all. However, one touch of the door convinced him this was a bad idea; what was going on was way more personal then he planned on. He would admit that he was a bit of a voyeur, but even he had limits to what should be spied on. So he retreated back to his tree and decided he would wait the couple out.

Kasumi and Tofu were still 'busy' in their room and Soun was still passed out. Sasuke had checked on the elder Tendo and was relieved to find that the dojo owner's blood alcohol level was continuing to drop. "Dammit," the little ninja thought. "How high was it when he stopped drinking last night? He's lucky he's not dead!" Nodoka, Nabiki, and Mousse had wandered off to check on Cologne at the Cat Café. "The old woman has been very distracted lately. The Equinox is a special time for her people according to that document Daran Hawke is translating. She's probably missing her home."

He continued to watch over the Tendo property for a few more minutes when a cloud passed in front of the sun. "Odd," he thought looking up. "The sky has been cloudless until now." His glance froze when he saw the small cloud though. "Ummm…I know water sometimes makes rainbows, but I've never seen a cloud composed of rainbow colors before." He climbed higher in the tree to study the oddly glowing weather phenomenon. There were flashes of light coming from its underbelly. "What's really odd is that it seems to be making a beeline for here – and it's dropping lower."

As the cloud dropped, it seemed to shrink in on itself until it was about half-again the size of the dojo building. "O.K…. scratch 'seems'! It's definitely settling on the dojo! What the hell!" he thought. Sasuke dropped down the tree and ran over to the dojo. He tried to open the door and was immediately pitched across the yard by a silent explosion of light. "Crap! I need to warn them," he panicked. He ran back toward the dojo as the cloud settled on the dojo – and then condensed inside it. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light from all the upper windows of the dojo and laughter filled the air around him. Sasuke stopped to shield his eyes.

The light faded somewhat, but the laughter did not. Sasuke once more approached the dojo windows and looked in. Inside, he saw twelve small ragged women (?) performing an unknown circle dance on dojo floor, all shining with a bright light emanating from their very cores. Their feet made no sounds that could be heard over the laughter surrounding him. Each woman stood about a meter high. Three were dressed in white dresses, three in blue, three in green, and three in red. What struck Sasuke the most was that each of the small women was battered, bruised, and bleeding. Most of their limbs were crooked, as if the arm or leg had been broken and set incorrectly. Their dresses were ragged, torn, and dirty, revealing raw wounds here and there through the holes in the fabric. Their dance was stumbling and rough as a result of their injuries. All of this was at odds with the laughter he heard, and the brightness shining in their eyes.

As they spun through the pattern of their dance, Sasuke began to notice something: they were healing. Their cuts sealed, and bruises faded. Limbs began to straighten, and, as a result, their dance became smoother. As the dance improved, their healing sped up. The injuries vanished and so did the dirt. Finally, even the dresses mended. Sasuke gasped as the last transformation occurred: each of the tiny women grew fairy wings. "Good lord! " Sasuke thought. "I'm watching elves or sprites!"

The twelve now beautiful sprites continued their dance. Every now and then, one would glance at Sasuke through the window and smile. They obviously knew he was there. This frightened him a little, but he found he could not move. Finally the circle dance ended and so did the laughter. The sprites all faced the center of the circle with solemn expressions and words sounded in Sasuke's ears: "All Hail the Reign of King Rera!" There as a blast of light and the sprites vanished. When Sasuke's eyes cleared again, he found he could move.

He stood stunned for a little longer until a hand spun him quickly. Doctor Ono, clad in his robe, faced the little ninja. Kasumi also seemed to be wearing a robe, but it was hard to see past her glow. "What did you see?" the Kitsune demanded. Normally, Sasuke would have been a little freaked by the doctor's fangs and fox ears (never mind the tail), but after what he just saw, Sasuke was too lost in wonderment.

"I saw … a miracle," was all Sasuke could say.

* * *

In the basement of the dojo, Ranma and Akane slept soundly, resting from their labors. They were undisturbed by anything from the outside world (or other-worlds), including the Power flowing through them, into their Shield, and then out into Nerima.

* * *

"How is Father?" Kasumi asked when Tofu came back into the kitchen wearing his sunglasses.

"His blood is down to 0.35. He's almost in the safe zone," the doctor answered. "It will be normal before the major Equinox effects are finished. He'll be fine. He cannot drink anymore for a week or so though – not until the last of the Equinox's power has settled."

"I'll lock him in his room if that's what it takes," Kasumi said firmly.

"It may. We'll see," Tofu added grimly. He looked at Sasuke holding a cup of tea and also wearing sunglasses. "Are you feeling better, Sasuke?"

The little ninja slowly nodded his head and then looked at Tofu. "I know what I saw," Sasuke started. "But, what did I see?"

Tofu gave a tight-lipped grin to hide his fangs. "You saw the Seasons Dance, something that hasn't been witnessed by any mortal in over 900 years. You also saw the end of one Cycle, and the beginning of the next. Tradition has it that the Sprites pick one, and only one, mortal per season to pass on the tale of the Dance. Congratulations, you won. You're the first of a new generation to see the Dance."

"I didn't know I was even a candidate…" he mumbled.

"In a way, it's very apropos," Tofu laughed. "The Sprites know you have to tell people, and they want the story to spread. They want as many people as possible looking for them at every Equinox or Solstice, even though they will only pick one witness. You will never see the Dance again, but you will never forget it either."

Sasuke took a deep breath. "You got that right," he replied. "Why here?"

Kasumi smiled at him. "You already know the answer to that, Sasuke. You've been with us long enough and I'm sure Toshio Kuno gave you some background."

"The spirits inside Ranma and Akane?" Sasuke asked hesitatingly.

"The Sprite of Spring is still trapped and dying, so her duties were performed by the Sprite of Winter and the Sprite of Summer, midway between their peak power," Tofu confirmed.

"And they are not trapped?" Sasuke asked.

"No," Tofu said. "Bound? Yes. Trapped? No. Ranma and Akane have not enslaved the Sprites. They are the Sprites protectors. They just share 'space' with them."

"And who is King Rera?" Sasuke prompted.

"Don't say that name outside of this house or the dojo," Tofo cautioned him. "But Rera is the Ainu word for 'Wind'. The four main Elemental spirits take turns being King or Queen. The time of their reign is known as a Cycle. Cycles stop and start during Equinoxes or Solstices and tend to run millions of years. Something went wrong with the last Cycle after only a few thousand years, so a new one is starting. Looks like the Wind Spirit, who's also known as the Winter Sprite, will be King for this new Cycle, and he's chosen his new name. " Tofu explained.

"Does this have anything to do with the Storm?" the ninja asked.

"Quite a bit actually. The simplest way to put it is that the Storm is a result of the Spring Sprite's 900-year imprisonment. There's a lot of messed up Power Flows that have to be released and the Storm will be a result of their correction – much like an earthquake is the release of pressure from two of Earth's plates," Tofu said. "Toshio and many others have been trying to weaken the Storm by relieving the pressure in other ways. Someone just scored big time – they caused the Cycle to change over now, instead of the middle of the Storm. I don't know how it happened, but it did. That will pull a lot of energy away from the Storm. This thing gets more and more survivable with every victory. "

* * *

Suma, the Earth Spirit (also known as the Autumn Sprite), was getting exasperated. "C'mon Ryoga - Don't go to sleep now. I want Rera to calm down a little first…"

Unfortunately, Ryoga had been rough-housing with his bride-to-be and her pet Katsunishiki. All three had worn themselves out and collapsed laughing in a haystack. The Equinox had been overloading Akari and Ryoga's bodies all week, and rest was within finally reach for the two Martial Artists.

Suma could feel the doorways of the Dream realm opening up. "I need to get to the Maze," Suma thought hurriedly. "Rera won't be able to find me there, and he won't do anything that might hurt Ryoga." He tried to teleport from the Fields to the Maze, but couldn't. "Oh cr…" was as far as he got before a fist came out of nowhere and caught him across his fanged jaw, knocking him down.

"You incredible scheming bastard," Rera growled as he materialized. Normally, Suma would have home field advantage, but that was gone now. Rera was King, and all realms were home field for the King.

"Now wait, Brother…it was necessary," Suma pled.

"He died to free me…She died to free Apay…and you made Sacrifices of them again! You took their blood!" Rera roared.

"It was only some small scratches – they felt nothing! I made sure of it! And they healed within seconds! As soon as I opened the Gateway!"

"You robbed them of their Choice!" Rera burst out as he backhanded Suma.

"Whoa! Wait a minute! They chose today!" Suma insisted as he wiped his mouth and backed away. "They chose the moment! I did nothing but steal a little blood and I gave them a little more spiritual stamina in return."

"You gave them that stamina so they would merge their Dream worlds. You knew they would want to stay together. You did it to set me up!" Rera stalked after him.

"I didn't force you either! All I did was setup the conditions! You could have said 'No'!" Suma pointed out. Then he came to an abrupt stop as he backed into something – or rather someone.

"What did he do now?" Ryoga asked wearily. Suma paled a little.

"This is between him and me," Rera told Ryoga angrily.

"Do I need to call Ranma?" Ryoga suggested.

Rera drew himself up and blew out an angry sigh. "I rather you didn't. He and Akane just fell asleep again after doing something rather personal."

Ryoga cocked an eyebrow. "I see. So how about you let me deal with things?"

Rera seemed to struggle with the idea, but then gave in. "Fine. He managed to have Apay convince me to be the King of the Seasons again instead of him."

"O-okay, somewhat underhanded, but you still could have said 'No'," Ryoga stated. "I don't think that's everything somehow."

"He also opened up a path to the Heart of the Nexus and had it flood through Ranma's and Akane's shared Spirit world," Rera said.

"WHAT? Why did he do that? Are they OK?" Ryoga demanded as he placed a hard hand on Suma's shoulder.

"They're fine," Suma cut in. "I did it so the Time Cycles would orient on Rera and Apay instead of Sister. As soon as the Equinox occurred, the Power flows made him King in place of Sister."

"Doesn't that mean a new Cycle has started now instead of the Solstice?" Ryoga pushed.

"Yes," Rera stated.

Ryoga was momentarily surprised, but he recovered after shaking his head to clear it. "OK, but you did say you would be King, even if was earlier than you thought," Ryoga reminded him. "Considering how long a Cycle lasts, I'm not sure three months is a big deal."

"Suma, tell Ryoga *how* you opened the path into the Nexus," Rera insisted. Ryoga's hand tightened on Suma's shoulder.

"I had to use a small Blood Sacrifice," Suma hedged.

"WHOSE blood?" Ryoga demanded.

"They're OK! Really!" Suma swore.

"WHOSE BLOOD?"

"Ranma's and Akane's," Suma said in a small voice. Ryoga hauled Suma up to stare him in the face.

"Let's just say he raised their passion so they got a little carried away with the finger nails; it didn't take much blood, just a few drops," Rera told Ryoga. The pig-boy started to growl. Rera continued: "By Law, he had to give them something in return, so he gave them stamina. Since they wanted to stay intimate, they used the extra stamina to merge their Dream realms – which he knew they would do. He also knew Apay would come talk to me then, too. With the four of us in the one realm, Suma managed to merge the domain of the Winter Sprite and the domain of the Summer Sprite on the Spring Equinox. Add a little Power to the mix, and Apay and me are the Centers of the Day – not our sickly Sister. As soon as I open my mouth, it's a done deal: a nice little plan."

"It was necessary!" Suma pleaded. "The Storm was going to destroy everything! By having the Cycle change now, I just robbed the Storm of a lot of Power!"

Ryoga looked like he was ready to explode. "You self-centered jackass!" he roared at Suma. "Did it ever occur to you that you could have just talked to everyone and asked for their help instead of tricking them?" Suma's mouth popped open. Ryoga sputtered as anger seemed to rob him of words. After a few moments of this, Suma dropped his head. With an effort, Ryoga got his anger under control and put Suma down. "I'm being punished for my sins," Ryoga muttered as he blew out a big breath. He looked at Rera. "All right, it's my job to discipline Suma, let me take care of it."

"I don't mind helping," Rera said.

Ryoga half-laughed. "Go home, oh King of the Seasons," he said mockingly. Ryoga made a gesture and a running track appeared. "Unless you want to join Suma on his 10km run? And that's just for starters?"

"No thanks!" Rera answered. With a 'pop', he was gone.

"Can we talk about this?" Suma begged.

"Now, you want to talk? Remember this moment the next time you hatch any more schemes. Get a move on!" Ryoga ordered. Suma sighed. "Cheer up," Ryoga told him. "I saved you from Rera. Too bad the next one won't be as easy."

"What?"

Ryoga looked directly at the boy. "Apay is a lot like Akane in temperament, and she loves her 'Big Sister' very much. When she finds out that you used Akane as a sacrifice, the beating I received from Akane for betraying her will look like a dope-slap compared to what Apay's going to do to you…" the fanged teenager said.

Suma went completely white

* * *

A/N: Next up - we catch up with Ciren and Hinako...


	6. Power

Chapter 6: Power

Just after 10 o'clock, Ciren sat down cross-legged in her designated place within the Circle and watched as Hinako sat as well. Immediately, the area outside the Circle seemed to fade and Ciren felt as if she and the teacher were floating in another time and space. Instead of the surrounding Kuno estate, she saw what appeared to be a huge roiling lake below her, set deep into the ground. Hinako showed no reaction to the change of view. "Probably because there hasn't been any for her," Ciren thought. Ciren reached out and took Hinako's left hand with her right. Hinako responded by taking her other hand, forming a circle. The teacher's eyes became very wide.

Ciren heard Hinako's thought: _"Where are we?"_

Ciren answered her in kind: _"We haven't gone anywhere. You're sharing my Sight."_

Hinako's eyes mirrored her confusion: _"Where's the compound?"_

 _"Still there. We're Seeing through it to the Nexus,"_ Ciren told her.

 _"That's the Nexus? It looks like a giant volcanic lake!"_

 _"That's it," Ciren thought back. "Or at least my Sights' interpretation of it anyway."_

 _"It's huge! How are we suppose to drain that?!"_ Hinako said in awe.

 _"We're not suppose to – it's impossible. We're looking for malignancies - things that shouldn't be there,"_ Ciren replied. _"Look at the surface…"_

After a few moments Hinako said: _"I see! It's like it's made of different colors!"_

 _"The true colors are healthy energy - we don't touch that. We're looking for Black and White. The Black we draw in and get rid of. The White we can keep for ourselves,"_ Ciren said.

 _"And if we gather enough of the White?"_ Hinako prompted.

Ciren grinned and then cautioned: _"We can hope. But the Black has to go too – otherwise people will get hurt! And we'll have to use the White to flush the Black out of ourselves."_

 _"Got it! Bring it on!"_

Ciren nodded and reached with her hunger for a White stream among the pool of colors. She drew it in and shared it with Hinako spiritually. Then she pulled in a Black streak. Hinako nodded back and shouted: "HAPPO FIVE-YEN COIN RETURN!"

* * *

Kuno watched Hinako and Ciren seated cross-legged in the Circle. The young girl and the woman grasped each others' hands. Instantly, Hinako assumed her adult form without saying anything. "I didn't expect that," Kuno thought. "I wonder if she did. Must be because she's sitting in a Power stream."

The two women adjusted their grips and Ciren nodded. Their faces took on looks of concentration and their auras became visible, even to Kuno's normal vision. The auras brightened further as Ciren and Hinako settled in better. Both women began to breathe deeper and the Circle itself began to glow as the two expanded their awareness. Kuno noted the Circle growing brighter and brighter and the two figures in the center became indistinct in the light. Finally, Hinako nodded and shouted: "HAPPO FIVE-YEN COIN RETURN!"

Instantly a beam of Power shot skyward, completely filling the circle of the ladies arms. Kuno (and several others) were knocked back by the soundless blast. As he picked himself up, he took stock of the situation. The women seemed fine sitting in their Circle, the beam pushing its way skyward to dissipate high in the atmosphere. "Yes!" he thought to himself. "Good thing I had Nerima removed from the flight paths. With any luck, we can drain away any malignancies and purify the normal flows!"

* * *

Cologne looked at her garden and thought about the decision she had made. Her fall from grace was complete now. She hadn't linked her mind the other Village Elders. She hadn't participated in the Equinox Ceremony. "I've chosen to protect Nerima now," she said to herself. "Even from my own people."

"Scratch that," she thought. "I've chosen to protect Mousse, Ranma, Akane, and my neighbors from Henna."

Before New Years, Henna had just wanted the Amazons clear of Nerima. She never expressed any curiosity about Ranma's friends and family; she had only asked if Shampoo caught Ranma or not. If not, when were they giving up? After New Years, it was a different story; Henna had been asking probing questions about Mousse's new family, especially about Ranma and Akane:

 _"Do they have the Sight?"  
"Is there anything special about their auras?"  
"How strong at magic are they?"  
"Where did they get their training?"  
"Who's their master?" _

Fortunately, Cologne didn't know the answers to most of Henna's questions. Actually, Cologne made a point of *not* knowing – and she didn't want to know. Unlike the other Elders, Cologne never trusted Henna. There was something unsettling about the eldest Elder. For one thing, no one knew her true age. Razor swore that Henna was no more than twenty years older than herself, but Razor always seemed distant when she said it – almost like she was not all there. Another thing was Henna's secrecy – she lived separate from the Village in what amounted to a castle, but no one questioned it. Henna also seemed to have a repository of Lore that no one else did. She brought it out in dire emergencies, but otherwise showed no sign of it – and she certainly didn't teach it to anyone.

But the most eerie thing about Henna was her total detachment from everyone in the Village – Henna had no favorites at all. She had people she hated (like Shampoo), but no one she liked. Henna cared about the survival of the Village, not the individuals. "It's human to form relationships," Cologne mused. "No matter how old you are. But Henna actively avoids them – she pushes away anyone who gets too close, sometimes savagely."

"And now this inhuman is focused on Mousse's new family," Cologne summed up silently. "No, she can take a flying leap off her cliff. I owe Mousse too much to allow her to trifle with his family. Besides, I like Ranma and Akane. Despite everything, they're loyal to me. They stop by at least three times a week to check on me. I'm a regular guest at the dojo and everyone makes me feel welcome. They're mine, and I've always protected my own." She turned angrily from the garden, ignoring the Circle that would allow her to communicate with the Village – and allow them to enter her mind.

Inside, she busied about the kitchen until she heard the front door open. "Elder?" Mousse's voice called out. "Are you here?"

"What's the lad doing here?" she wondered. "He's not due in until noon."

"Cologne?" Nodoka called out. "We have fresh rolls and some of that nice marmalade you like."

"I should have known," Cologne mused. "With Nerima in an uproar and me out-of-sorts, they're worried about me. Ah, well – I might as well settle their minds at least." Out loud she called out: "I'm in the back, I'll be out in a second…"

* * *

Sanu looked at the map of Nerima laid out on the table. There were pushpins that officers had set in the map indicating disturbances: white for solved issues, green for mundane issues, yellow for Martial Artists, blue for magic, and red for anything unknown. Somehow, someway, things were being held to a dull roar. The majority of the Martial Artists activity was confined to Cherry Street Park – the area was solid yellow pushpins for the Grand Melee going on there. Furinkan High School was marked with blue pins because four poltergeists had taken refuge there. They would have to be exorcised later, but they were idle because they didn't have an audience – so that counted as "under control". The Tendo dojo was glowing but that was not bothering anyone and the residents said everyone was healthy; after a debate, it was given a blue pin instead of a red one.

Happily enough, white dominated the board, but Sanu was a little awed about how much had been shut down already. For example, the west canal was no longer blood red, the food fight fought by invisible opponents in the market place was over, the city hall bell stopped chiming thirteen times every fifteen minutes, and a graveyards were no longer singing. Never mind the numerous possessions, rampaging gaki, and raw magic that had been solved. "We're winning!" Sanu thought. "We'll beat this yet!"

Sergeant Imia walked over to the map and placed several red pins on it. "Where the hell is that?" Sanu demanded.

"It's the Kuno estate," Imia told him. "There's some sort of pillar of fire erupting skyward."

Sanu went pale. "Where is the Tendo girl?" he demanded again.

"Not there. It's not her. Our people think she's at the Tendo property," Imia answered.

"Gods, please don't let there be another Summoning. I'm not sure Nerima can handle it," Sanu muttered. In a stronger voice he said: "All right, get some uniforms over there. I want to know who the pyro is. I'll write a warrant Kuno has to acknowledge."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Henna sat on her throne chair and raged about the failure of this morning's ceremony. Eventually, she calmed down and a thought trickled into her awareness. "We didn't raise any Power at all – even with the disturbance of the Handmaidens escaping. Everything was going fine, but then it fell apart. It's as if everyone was suddenly just going through the motions; no one's heart was in it but mine." Normally, she didn't care about the others, but if something was causing them to act unpredictably, that might create a problem down the line. "Now what the hell happened to everyone?" She rested her head against the back of her chair.

After a bit, she hit upon it. "Cologne…Cologne didn't join with us. She hasn't missed a Council Circle since she left for Japan. Even during the height of Shampoo's disgrace and punishment, she didn't skip out; she rode out the whole thing."

Henna let her head rest back against her chair. "Hellfire," she cursed quietly. "Cologne is one of the more energetic ones. She's a pain in my ass, but she gave the people hope. She's a fighter. Now they're afraid that she's gone for good. If this causes the Council – and the Village – to lose their spirit, they are all useless to me."

The witch closed her eyes and reached out to touch Razor's mind. " _Razor!_ "

 _"Yes, Henna?"_

 _"Have you heard from Cologne lately? You're friends aren't you?"_

 _"Yes, but she hasn't really had any one-on-one conversations with anyone since Shampoo betrayed her,"_ Razor answered.

 _"The Council needs her back. Summon her to appear before us,"_ Henna ordered.

 _"Summon her yourself,"_ was the sharp return. _"She'll just ignore you – she's not your slave. And neither am I."_ With that, Razor broke off the contact abruptly.

"Insolent pup! I'll…" Henna started and then brought herself up short. "I need Razor to run the Council," she thought. "I'll get even when she dies. Let's see how she fares as my servant."

Henna made a face then. "I still need Cologne. I better get in touch with her myself." Henna concentrated and then reached out with her thoughts toward Nerima. Instantly, she was hurled out of her chair and knocked across the room. Ba strode in with an astonished look on his face and stared at Henna. Henna could do nothing but lay there for several minutes. Finally, she pulled herself together and held her head. "What the hell was that?!" she wondered.

* * *

Akari awoke with a shudder. "Nerima," she murmured. "Something's going to happen." She lifted her head off Ryoga's chest and rubbed his shoulder with one hand.

Ryoga stretched and froze. "What the hell is that noise?"

"You hear a rushing sound?" Akari asked.

"Yeah…" Ryoga acknowledged slowly. "We have to go…something's happening in Nerima."

"Let's grab some clothes and pack quickly," Akari replied as she got up.

* * *

Cologne brought out some tea for her not-unwelcomed guests. "What brings you this way?" Cologne asked Nodoka, Nabiki, and Mousse as she sat down with them.

"I work here," Mousse answered smartly.

Cologne bopped him lightly on the head with her staff. "You've been hanging out with the Ono's too much, boy."

"I am an Ono, Grandmother," Mousse replied with a raised eyebrow.

Cologne gave a little snort. "Bloody weird family," she added.

"No comment," Nabiki chimed in.

"Have you heard from the Village lately?" Mousse asked.

"Ah, that's it," Cologne noted. "I've been trading letters back and forth with several people, thank you very much."

"But you didn't perform an Equinox ceremony this morning," Mousse stated. When Cologne looked at him queerly, he added "You're not smudged."

"Neither are you," she returned.

"I've moved on," he replied.

"And I haven't?" she shot back.

"It's hard to change after all these years though," Nodoka intervened. "Speaking from experience, it can be a little unnerving."

"You, I'll let get away with that," Cologne said as she reached for a roll and the marmalade.

Nodoka smiled. "I don't mean to pry…"

"Yes, you do," Cologne said. "Friends do that."

Now Nodoka laughed. "All right, I do mean to pry. I'm – we're – just worried about you; at least a little bit."

"You too?" Cologne asked Nabiki.

"Me too," the troublemaker replied with false diffidence as she enjoyed her roll. "You're one of us."

Cologne sighed. "And I suppose that's the beginning and the end of it," she shrugged. "The Equinox ceremony is a very communal ceremony that involves sharing oneself with the tribe. I don't feel safe doing that anymore."

"Safe?" Mousse quizzed.

"I meant 'comfortable'," Cologne lied.

"No, you meant what you said," Nabiki pressed. "You have an enemy there."

"Maybe," Cologne admitted. "Or maybe it's more that Nerima has an enemy there," Cologne half-lied. Her guests looked surprised at her, so she decided to come clean. "I've had some misunderstanding with town folks here, but when push comes to shove, the people of Nerima have stood by me and mine, despite our differences, especially since Shampoo left. I will not see them hurt." She picked up another roll and cut it in half. "Sometimes, you have to choose, and I've chosen. It's not easy, but it's done. As you said, I'm one of you…"

* * *

Hideo crept up on the pool of colored mist slowly. "Stay there," he thought. "Don't sync on anyone. Don't change. Just hold on until I Spike you…"

Suddenly, there was a screech behind him as a gaki tore around the corner with Lord Jakaro in hot pursuit. "Stop it, Jouda!" the disguised Kitsune yelled. "It's running for the Pool. It will become an Oni!"

"Oh crap!" Hideo thought as the gaki leaped over the florist. The emaciated ghost dodged the big man's grab and ran for the mist pool. With a yell of victory, the gaki launched itself at the mist – only to have the mist disappear!

"Begone!" Jakaro roared at the specter. With a small pop, it vanished.

"Did you drain the pool?" Hideo demanded quickly.

"No," Jakaro answered. "We just got lucky."

"No such thing," Hideo retorted. "And it doesn't Feel gone." He Looked around. "Something's changed though."

"Like what?" Jakaro prompted.

Hideo did a double-take at the Kitsune Lord. "Like the fact that your disguise just shredded," Hideo told him. Indeed, Jakaro now stood with all nine of his tails blazing behind him.

"What the hell?" Jakaro muttered as he looked at himself.

"I don't think hell is causing this," Hideo told the Kitsune. "The Power flows aren't stagnating anymore – everything is flowing freer."

"The question is: Is this a good or bad thing?" Jakaro wondered aloud.

* * *

Olaf felt it first. It was as if some sort of constriction vanished and he felt the Power flowing through him speed up. Any shred of weariness vanished. Around him, he noticed that the Martial Artist picked up likewise. "No!" he thought urgently. "They were starting to wear down!" He hit the call button on his radio. "Ojima!" the giant shouted. "What's happening?"

"Damned if I know!" the inspector called back. "Everyone just got their second wind!"

"Oh hell…" the giant groaned.

* * *

Downstairs in Ucchans's, Ukyo ran to the closet and looked for her giant spatula. Reflexively, Konatsu took cover. "Stop that!" she told him. "I'm not mad at you."

"O.K.," her ninja acknowledged carefully. "Why are you getting that?" he asked as she emerged from the closet.

"Shut up, and pay attention to your surroundings, Kunoichi," she scolded.

Konatsu did and then became confused. "It feels like before a thunderstorm," he noted cautiously.

"Something's coming," she agreed. "And it's not catching me off-guard! Now get into your fighting garb!"

* * *

Daisuke re-played the audio track for Sayuri. "Not too bad," she noted with a small smile.

"I need to scale back the instruments though – they're too loud," he said.

"Only a little – don't overdo it."

He nodded as he adjusted the tracks on his mixer and they listened again. "Better," Daisuke commented.

Sayuri started to say something when the doorbell rang. She heard Daisuke's mom answer it. "Why, Yuka! What's wrong?!"

Sayuri heard running feet and then had to catch a crying Yuka. In the background, she heard more running and Hiroshi apologizing to Mrs. Muira: "Sorry to bust in, but she needs to see Sayuri!"

Hiroshi and Mrs. Muira appeared at the doorway to the room. Sayuri looked at Hiroshi and demanded: "Did you two have a fight?!"

"No!" Hiroshi insisted. "We were just walking back from Saitou's café when she burst into tears." Yuka continued crying uncontrollably.

"Did she say anything?" Daisuke asked.

"She just stopped and had a shocked look on her face. Then she screamed 'NO!' and ran here," Hiroshi answered.

Sayuri looked thoughtful (in a worried sort of way) as she comforted her friend and then sighed. "And she knew exactly where I was…" Yuka cried louder. Sayuri hugged Yuka tighter and softly said: "Shhushh… It's O.K."

"No it's not," Yuka sobbed.

"It's just the Equinox," Sayuri told her. "It will go away again."

"What if it doesn't? This hasn't happened before. I don't want it! I don't want to be a freak!" Yuka bawled. Daisuke's and Hiroshi's eyes widen in understanding.

Mrs. Muira just sighed. The mother came into the room proper and pulled Yuka gently to face her. "Is Akane a freak?" Mrs. Muira asked bluntly.

That brought Yuka up short. "No!" At the older woman's direct look, Yuka added: "But she's Akane!"

"And you're Yuka," Mrs. Muira said patiently. "Nothing changed."

"But I can feel everyone around me, I know where everyone is!" Yuka insisted.

"I'm sure you do," Mrs. Muira agreed. She turned to Yuka's friends and asked: "Is anyone surprised about this?" The three teenagers all shook their heads "No". Yuka's eyes widened and the tears stopped flowing.

"Sorry, dear," Mrs. Muira said. "Everyone's known but you. Welcome to the club."

"Why do you think Akane confides in you? She knows you can understand her feelings about all the weird things that happen to her," Sayuri pointed out.

"She confides in you too!" Yuka defended.

"Yes, because we have the same sense of adventure, so I understand a lot, but you understand more. You even understand me, and I'm more fickle than the two of you tripled," Sayuri replied.

"We've always known you were an Empathic," Daisuke stated.

Yuka turned to face Hiroshi and started to speak, but Hiroshi cut her off: "So you're 'special'. You were already special to me." He shrugged. "I love you – all of you."

"But I don't want…" Yuka started and then stopped, realizing how it might sound.

"Do you love me?" Hiroshi asked.

"Yes!" she said firmly.

"Are you going to stop if I developed the Strength? It might happen. I can already lift more than the rest of the guys except Ranma," Hiroshi pointed out.

"I love you!" she insisted again.

"Then don't worry about it," he told her. Yuka ran over to him and hugged him.

"Much better now," Mrs. Muira noted. "Fine. I'm going to get lunch out. Pull yourself together dear and then the four of you should come downstairs."

"Thanks, Mom," Daisuke said. With a nod, his mother left the room.

After a minute or two, Hiroshi and Yuka broke the hug and Yuka said down on Daisuke's bed with Hiroshi. "Do you want to her the song Sayuri and me were working on before we have lunch?" Daisuke asked them.

"Yes," Yuka answered for them. "But, do you have your phone?"

"Always with me. Why?" he inquired puzzled.

"Because somehow I know Ranma's going to call. He's going to need our help this afternoon…"

* * *

A/N: Next - Attack


	7. Attack

Chapter 7: Attack

Henna studied the image of the three-meter globe that spun above her workshop's central fire. On it, a network of fiery Dragon Lines overlaid the oceans and landmasses. Try as she would, Henna could not stop the feeling of awe creeping over her. "It's running 'hot' – the whole damn planet is supercharged and the Equinox is just adding to it," she thought. "My prophecy to the Sprite is coming true. Without her Siblings, the planet is going to war with itself. The Elements will turn on each other. Storms and earthquakes will batter the globe. Natural disasters will skyrocket. Refugees will be everywhere. Then Famine will break out, followed by War as countries scramble for remaining resources. Billions will die!" Her eyes took on a rapturous look. "There will be Blood everywhere. So much Power for the taking… I will be immortal… "

She seemed to come back to herself with a snap and the globe image vanished. "And my Opposite will be the first to die; she and her precious city. Their Nexus is overflowing; the city is trying to relieve the pressure just so they can survive a few more months. Maybe I can change that…"

She glanced at the demon watching her from a corner of her workshop. "I can't go to Nerima in spirit form; Ba will grab me and deliver me to Hell. I can't send an Elemental either – something is devouring them in Nerima. But that Circle those women are sitting in has no external protections – only internal ones. I suppose they figured no one would want to mess with it and get burned to pieces. All I have to do is erase the internal protections. The Circle will start to breakdown. When it goes critical, it will level that section of the city and kill thousands – and those will be the lucky ones! All I need is a pathway to do this…"

She walked thoughtfully over to her work table and picked up some ingredients which she threw into a bowl. "I need a golem," she thought. "Something I can build a connection with here and send quickly to Nerima." After a pause, she continued: "There are no Wind Mages among Kuno's men, and by the time a local mage gets there, it will be too late!" She took the bowl to the central fire pit and threw the contents into the fire. Then she blew a long breath on the fire and a small tornado formed among the flames. "Breath of my body – do my will…" she intoned.

* * *

The Mage Marcus was growing uneasy. He had no reason to – everything was going fine. The women were sitting in their Circle at the Kuno estate removing stagnant pieces of Power, just as planned. The Nexus power flows were running cleaner and cleaner as time went on – at least as far as he could tell. Not that this didn't have side-effects, but people were less likely to suffer permanent damage from a malignancy. The grand experiment seemed to be working out. So why was Marcus so out-of-sorts? He stared longer at the Circle. He hadn't created it. Was it professional jealousy? Granted, he wasn't above that, but he was a grown-up and it *was* a good piece of work. It shouldn't bother him that mu…

"Oh shit…" he thought. "It's an open Circle - There's no protection against external attacks."

He turned to the nearest ninja. "Get Mr. Kuno! We have a …" he started, only to stop. With dread filling his soul, he turned to the west and saw a disturbance moving through the clouds.

"Good sir?" the ninja prompted.

"Henna," Marcus whispered.

"What?" the ninja asked.

"HENNA!" Marcus yelled. Everyone within hearing turned to face him. "HENNA'S COMING!" he shouted again while pointing at the tornadic flow of air. Cries of alarm broke out.

Another mage, Yoric, ran over. "It's not her! It's just an Elemental!" he called out.

"You're a bloody idiot!" Marcus snapped. Louder, he yelled: "Prepare to repel!" A wind arose and stirred his hair.

The other mage made a dismissive gesture and ran to the front of the compound. He began chanting into the breeze. Marcus watched as the man took out an Elemental trap and opened it. In the sky, the horizontal column began tilting vertically. Marcus took out his wand. Kuno ran out of his house and immediately turned to see what everyone else was watching. Then he ran over to Marcus. "What is that?!" Kuno demanded.

"I don't know," Marcus said slowly. "It looks like an Elemental, but it doesn't feel right. It reeks of Henna's magic."

"Find Kristensen and get him to shutdown the Circle," Kuno ordered an attendant ninja. The man nodded and ran off. Meanwhile, the column of air drew closer to the earth. Yoric continued his chanting.

"It's zero'ing in on him," Kuno pointed out.

"But it's not getting weaker…" Marcus answered. His eyes widened. "Oh hell!" Yoric!" he bellowed. "It's a golem! Get out of there!"

Yoric ignored him and continued his chanting. He continued right up until the air golem descended with a crash and bent the man backwards. Marcus heard his back snap even across the distance. He watched as Yoric's death energy was siphoned away by the automaton.

"That's Henna's magic!" Marcus shouted to his fellows running toward him. "She's sent a golem – she's reaching through it from China! ATTACK!" With that, he sent a wild bolt of power at the mini-tornado. The blast was out of control, but it did not seem to matter – the whirlwind was disrupted ever so slightly.

Henna's laughter sounded on the wind. "I will drain you dry, insects," she shouted gleefully.

The rest of the mages joined in. Like Marcus, none of them could control their Magics well, so none of them tried. Instead, raw bolts of energy tore at the Intruder. Blast after blast struck the whirlwind which couldn't absorb the wild power. Each strike only inflicted a small amount of damage, but taken together, they began to take their toll on the Wind Golem. The Mages could feel Henna's frustration fill the air.

"Let's see how you like this one!" she shrieked. The tornado detonated like a bomb, lifting the defenders into the air and blowing them backwards away from the golem – and the Circle. Immediately, the tornado reformed and began flowing toward the Circle. It reached greedily for the two women, intent on ripping a hole to the Heart of the Nexus.

But Ciren and Hinako were not as unaware as their observers thought. Because of their energy gathering, they had sensed the golem through the energy flows and watched carefully. Now they were use to their Power. With a shared thought, they turned their geyser on the Intruder and blew it back. The golem tried to absorb the Power, but the Nexus's energy was too raw for it and power crackled over it. Three times it tried to advance and three times it failed, but it didn't retreat much either. Marcus and his fellows picked themselves up and returned to the battle. With the extra power, Ciren, Hinako, Marcus and the rest slowly forced the wind golem back.

"Keep on it!" Marcus shouted. "It can't keep repairing itself forever!"

Everyone was so focused on the golem that no one saw the assassin dodge out of the shadow of the wall and run to the Circle. He stabbed one of the mages in the back and then the masked man reached into the Circle. Instantly, an explosion shook the grounds…

* * *

Henna laughed scornfully. "Idiots," she said out loud. "Give you a little distraction and you forget all about the basics. Too easy. Sixteen deaths including my assassin." While she couldn't collect souls through the golem, she could (and did) collect the Power the deaths provided. "Not bad. It more than makes up for the losses this morning. And soon the Circle will breakdown and there will be more – lots more."

* * *

Sanu and Ryuu ran up to the gates of the Kuno compound where the firefighters were having a heated argument with the ninjas blocking the way. Sergeant Imia and the mercenary Othan were shoving people out of the judge's way. "Move it!" Imia bellowed. "Judge Sanu is here!" The ninjas hesitated in confronting the police officer – no one struck a cop in Nerima, even now.

"Let them in morons!" Sanu yelled. "The manor house is on fire." Indeed, a corner of it was just catching despite the distance between the pillar and the house.

"They won't be able to stop the pillar blaze," one of the ninjas shouted.

"They can save the house – I'll keep them away from the well fire," Sanu shouted back. After some hesitation, the ninjas let the firefighters through to the house.

Sanu ignored the house and ran around (the long way) to the back yard. He stopped when he saw the base of the column of flame, wrapped in crackling power, reaching high into the sky. Somehow, he could see two women at the base of the pillar despite the fact they seemed to be engulfed by it. "More out of control magic," he thought.

Ryuu followed his gaze and said: "Ciren Blake and Hinako Ninomiya."

"Their bodies aren't burned. Can they be alive despite that?" Sanu asked with some awe.

"I don't know…" Ryuu answered.

Sergeant Imia ran over to Sanu. The judge tore his eyes from the blazing Circle Ciren and Hinako lay. "How many dead?" Sanu demanded.

"Twelve ninjas, sir. All burned to death. Three mages also dead," Imia answered.

"What about the others?"

"Four mages in bad shape. The EMT's say they're burned pretty badly, but they should make it. We have three mages who refused to go. They're also burned, but they won't leave. About half-a-dozen ninjas lightly toasted who also won't leave."

"Kuno hires good people, if a little stupid. Where's Kuno?"

"His doctors are patching a broken arm and some burns. He won't leave either." Imia indicated a knot of people about fifty meters away.

"All right. Let's get some answers," Sanu said grimly.

They marched toward the group, but before they covered half the distance, Ojima raced past them. "Oh crap," Sanu half-snarled. "Some idiot called him. Move!" They broke into a run.

Ojima had good head start on them though. Immediately, a wall of bodyguards sprung up between the inspector and his target. Ojima launched himself at one of the intervening ninjas. The hooded-man did not strike at Ojima, only parried the attack.

Kuno quickly got on his feet as Ojima fought to get to him. "Let him through!" Kuno ordered.

"Don't let him through!" Sanu ordered loudly. "Stand your ground!" Ryuu doubled his speed and left Sanu behind.

"He won't kill me!" Kuno shout back.

"Don't count on it!" Ojima yelled while throwing more punches at the ninja who dodged and blocked like clockwork, all while not budging from his spot.

"INSPECTOR, STAND DOWN!" Sanu bellowed. Ojima's face twisted in anger, but he was forced to stop his attacks as Ryuu seized him from behind and locked Ojima's arms over his head. "Stand down!" Sanu shouted again. "If you kill him, we can't save the women!"

Sanu shoved his way forward as Ojima snarled: "Get them out of there!"

"Do you know how?! I'm fragging open to suggestions!" Kuno bellowed back.

"What did you promise her?" Ojima demanded while still held by Ryuu.

"Nothing," Kuno said flatly. "I promised nothing. A little cash, hopefully a few lives less damaged, but I promised nothing."

Ojima shouted back: "Then why is she in there?!"

Kuno growled at Ojima as Sanu placed himself between the two men: "She does as she pleases and has her own reasons, but try looking in the mirror." That brought Ojima up short.

Sanu held out a warning hand at the Inspector. "Last time: stand down," the judge said without shouting.

"Did you know about this?" Ojima asked insistently.

"No," Sanu answered him truthfully. "I would have warned you to talk with her."

"And I didn't know she hadn't talked to you about this!" Kuno threw out.

Ojima slumped in Ryuu's hold. Kuno continued: "Marcus has a plan to get her and Ninomiya out of there, but we need help. We need the Martial Artists."

"Good fecking luck. They're all bashing each other in Cherry Street Park," Ojima shot back.

"No, we need them, but they're not who I'm talking about. We need the cream. We need Ranma and company."

* * *

Ranma looked at the clock from where he lay. "Do you think anyone will show up for lessons?" he asked his soulmate.

Akane raised her head off Ranma's chest and looked at the clock too. "I don't know. I don't feel like moving, but I suppose we should get on with the day. Actually, we could have a pretty full dojo given everything going on."

"Or the Shield could keep everyone away," Ranma said slyly.

"You are energetic, aren't you?" she teased.

They lay there quietly for several minutes until Ranma's phone rang. Ranma looked at the phone number and saw it was Mousse. A premonition ran down his spine. "There's no way he'd call us," Akane told him. "He's way too smart."

"Something's wrong," Ranma agreed as he answered the phone. "This better be good," Ranma warned.

"No, it's bad. Very bad," Mousse's voice said grimly. "Ojima just called me. You two have to come to the Kuno compound. Hinako and Ciren are in mortal danger – so is all of Nerima. Henna finally attacked Nerima."

Ranma's eyes started glowing as he said: "Henna?"

* * *

Olaf strode into the dojo compound. "ONO!" the giant berserker bellowed.

Tofu appeared outside the door instantly, still in his half-Kitsune form. Kasumi was behind him filling the doorway with radiance. "What's wrong?!" he called out.

"Ciren and Hinako were trying to cure themselves. Henna's using them to rip open a door to the Nexus! It's going to kill them, and a lot of others if it's not stopped!" Olaf explained hurriedly.

"What the hell?!"

"Just come! We need you! We need Ranma and Akane too!" he shouted.

"Ah crap, they're not exactly available!" Tofu told him.

"Where is he? Ciren's in trouble! I'm not losing her!"

"He's in the dojo, but…"

The giant ignored Tofu and ran around to the dojo. He stopped as he saw it was glowing brightly. Tofu caught up to him. "He and Akane are…" Tofu started, but Olaf cut him off.

"RANMA!" the giant bellowed.

The dojo exploded in a burst of light and a beam of energy as wide of the dojo shot toward the sky.

* * *

Once more, Marcus tried to approach Ciren's and Hinako's Circle at a run while wrapped in his Protections. Once more, he failed as he was forced to veer off before his Protections started to fail and his face began to burn. He cursed at the pain and healed it. Now, he just stood as close to the Circle as he could. He squinted as he studied the damage. The former assassin (now ozone) had managed to damage two of the Circles inner lines before he joined the dead. Unfortunately, some of the other lines were starting to deteriorate under the strain. "If they give," Marcus thought. "It's going to detonate like a bomb – this section of Nerima will be leveled. Kristensen would have been our best chance of repairing the Circle, but he had been the first to die. So now I'm the next best chance." He ground his teeth in frustration. "Damn it!" he swore. He looked up at the sky. "By any Power higher than Hell," he called upwards. "Unless you want thousands to die, help me now!" he half-commanded/half-pleaded.

Suddenly, there was a belch of fire from the Circle and, as the burst faded, the pillar of Power shrunk to half the diameter of the Circle. The damaged lines were just outside of it even though the pillar still held Ciren and Hinako. Marcus saw the change and re-doubled the Protections about himself. Then he ran at the Circle praying feverously to whatever heard him. The Power pushed at his Shield forcing him to crouch as he ran. Despite it, he managed to dive to the ground just outside the Circle. Grabbing his chalk pouch, he thrust his hand into the Circle and screamed like the damned despite his Shielding. Somehow, he forced himself to re-draw one of the two lines the assassin had erased. Then Marcus snatched his hand back, some instinct kicking in. He rolled away just before there was another flare up that pitched him fifty meters shattering his remaining Protections. The pillar of raging energy once more filled the entire Circle.

"Marcus!" Kuno called out. He ran to the mage's side.

"Sorry, Mr Kuno," Marcus said quietly. "I tried…" With that Marcus lost consciousness.

"Oh my god…his hand," Sanu murmured.

Kuno looked at what was left of Marcus's hand. It was impossible to distinguish burnt flesh from what was left of the leather pouch.

"Get the medics!" Kuno snapped. "NOW!"

"Yes sir," the ninja answered.

"And find the Tendo Dojo crew, now!"

* * *

Ranma and Akane walked out of the remarkably undamaged dojo holding hands. Olaf had turned away from the unbearable brightness, but quickly fixed on them. "We know," Ranma cut him off. "Mousse called." He and Akane were both dressed in sweats – and both of them were glowing in the sunshine, especially their eyes. "We have to get dressed, but we're coming – now. Ryoga and Akari are on their way too."

"What just happened?" Olaf asked despite the urgency; he was a little stunned apparently.

"Long story, but we're tied into the Nexus right now. A certain little shit set us up," Akane/Apay answered. Her voice was strangely choral.

"We'll fix him later, right now we have work to do," Ranma/Rera replied. His voice also had a choral quality to it. "Let's save your daughter."

* * *

A/N: Next - The Cavalry


	8. The Cavalry

Chapter 8: The Cavalry

Akane looked at Marcus's hand and arm. The Tendo crew had arrived before the EMT's had taken Marcus away. She reached for the hand and carefully intertwined her fingers with Marcus's burnt curled fingers. Then she pulled her hand free, somehow removing the welded leather pouch and straightening the charred fingers, hand, and arm. "You bought us time," she told the unconscious man in the same choral voice. "Bravery should be rewarded." Akane looked at the medics with her eyes glowing. Both men swallowed hard. "Bandage his hand and arm it tightly as is. Don't do anything else. Do not cut off the damaged tissue. There will be no amputations today. Do you understand?"

"Do as she says," Sanu said abruptly. "I have a feeling we're going to see a miracle."

"Yes," Akane/Apay told him. She gestured to the paramedics and they started the bandaging. She nodded to Sanu and said: "We need to round up the survivors later and get them healed too. We'll visit the others in the hospital. First, we need to free Ciren and Hinako and shutdown the Doorway. Let's join Ranma and the others."

"After you good lady," Sanu told her.

She, Sanu, Ryuu, and Daran (who was ostensibly guarding Akane) walked around to the back were Ciren and Hinako were trapped in their Circle. "You're taking this very well," Akane/Apay noted mischievously to Sanu.

"Practice," he responded with aplomb. "That and the fact you're not behind this fire column."

Ciren and Hinako were still lying on the ground in their Circle; the beam of Power they unconsciously sent skyward was still raging out of control. Ranma and Ryoga stood just outside of the Circle opposite of each other with their arms stretched out wide. Their eyes were closed in concentration. No one else could get within twenty meters of the Circle. A large group, including Tofu (still in his half-Kitsune form), Kasumi (still glowing), Kuno, Mousse, Mausu, Olaf, Ojima, Imia, Akari, and Cologne, were nearby watching intently.

Akane walked past the group and approached the Circle leaving Sanu and company behind. Ranma opened his glowing eyes as Akane neared him and said in a choral voice: "They're still alive and relatively whole. In a lot of pain, but whole. Their souls are the Doorway. We've lent them strength, but the Circle is still deteriorating. We'd all be dead if that Mage hadn't done what he did. As it is, it's only their willpower keeping us alive. Can you fix the Circle?"

Akane/Apay looked at the Circle and nodded her head. Then she walked back to the group and looked at Kuno: "Find me white rock now, like quartz. High grade steel will do. Chalk won't cut it anymore, but I'll need that too."

Kuno snapped his figures and three ninjas left at a hurry. "What's the plan?" he asked in a low voice.

"We save Japan," Akane/Apay answered with a shrug. "Then we save the women."

"How?" Olaf asked tensely.

"Repairing the Circle will confine the Power flow. That will save Japan. The problem is that the women are stuck as the Doorway until their strength gives out and they die." At Ojima's start, Akane/Apay said quickly: "We need to get them out of their before that happens."

"Again, how?" Olaf pressed.

"I don't know," Akane/Apay admitted. "But that's never stopped us before – any of us." Olaf sighed in frustration but held his peace.

"Marcus said he had a plan, but he's unconscious," Kuno stated.

"Part of his plan was to repair the Circle. That's what he was trying to do," Ranma/Rera replied chorally as he and Ryoga/Suma joined them. "Did he say anything else?"

"He said we needed the top Martial Artists," Kuno answered. The Trio looked thoughtful.

"Why is she in there?" Ojima asked subdued. He seemed to be afraid of the answer, but he had to ask.

Tofu looked at Olaf. "Your call," the Kitsune stated.

Olaf took a deep breath and said: "Because she's always hated her vampirism – the need to feed. She's worked hard to deal with it, but she's never made peace with it."

Ojima looked at Kuno hard. "And you used that against her."

Kuno stood there with his arms folded. "No, I wanted to draw off malign Power from the Nexus. She came up with the hope on her own. I tried to dash it again and again, but she wouldn't listen – as she'll tell you herself when we get her out of there."

Cologne looked surprised at Kuno: "Was that actually Hope and Belief from you?" Kuno just snorted.

"Must be contagious around here," Sanu noted.

Sasuke ran up with a long dagger. "Will this do, Mistress?" the ninja asked Akane.

Akane/Apay accepted the knife from him with a nod and snapped the blade off the hilt. Then she turned to Cologne: "Declare without prejudice, grandmother: are you with us or against us?"

"With," Cologne stated firmly.

"Then watch for Henna," Akane said chorally as she left to approach the Circle. Ranma and Ryoga followed. Ojima and Olaf tried to follow, but the heat/power from the pillar stopped them. The Trio approached the beam of Power easily enough despite the raging energy. Just outside the Circle they stopped, and Ranma and Ryoga raised their arms and seemed to push against the pillar as if it was solid stone, but they didn't actually touch it. Extremely slowly, the pillar responded and seemed to fold in on itself – not much, just a little. Sweat beaded on Ryoga's and Ranma's foreheads and their arms trembled. The pillar yielded a little further, and then a little more – just enough to uncover the remaining damaged line. With a quick motion, Akane/Apay leaned down and stretched her arm into the Circle. Flames surrounded the limb but Akane ignored the conflagration and dropped the steel blade along the broken line. Instantly, the beam of power shrunk to half its diameter. The flames faded from Akane's arm revealing a whole and hale limb (although the sleeve was burned). Inside the Circle, the knife began glowing red hot, but Akane sprinkled the chalk down over the sword, overlaying the line, and the sword cooled. Ciren's and Hinako's bodies seem to stir and relax a little.

"The pain is gone," Ranma said. "But they're still trapped in there. They're not even pulling anymore – it's just flowing through them."

"Henna!" Cologne called out sharply as she pointed to the west. Once more, a disturbance was moving through the clouds, high in the atmosphere.

"Same as last time," Kuno said.

"Not the same," Ranma corrected him. "I'm here now." With that he moved forward, his eyes still glowing.

"Ranma!" Akane called out chorally. "It's not an Elemental!"

"Then I don't have to hold back!" he shouted back.

The tornado began to spin out of the sky, heading directly at Ranma. Ranma began setting up a counter-flow around himself, preparing to simply cancel out the windstorm. As the tornado neared with 10 meters of Ranma, there was a tremendous explosion and Ranma was blown back toward the rest. The tornado reformed and rushed towards him. A massive chi blast struck the tornado a knocked it back though. "And you're not alone either, Red-head," Ryoga told Ranma as the pig-tailed martial artist picked himself up.

"I got this," Ranma said.

"But you don't have to," Akane pointed out. "There are others with scores to be settled." The tornado rushed toward the Circle again.

"Fine," Ranma gave in. "On three: One, two,…" Ranma threw an enormous chi blast at the golem.

"Jackass!" Ryoga yelled as Akane shouted "Dummy!" together while throwing their own chi blasts. The tornado was knocked apart by the trio of blasts. Slowly it pulled itself back together.

"How much power did Henna give that thing?" Ranma wondered out loud.

"More than you can imagine boy!" Henna voice whispered out of the tornado.

Suddenly, Ranma's battle aura lit up. "NO! Don't!" Tofu Ono cried out. "Not yet! A little longer! Just help Ranma!"

The aura faded, but Ranma's eyes were still glowing. Ranma shouted: "Then imagine THIS!" The last word became a growl as Ranma's shape changed to that of a giant black were-panther, easily three times Ranma's normal size. The beast reared back, standing on two legs. It drew in a massive breath and then unleashed a deafening roar. A blast of wind surrounded Ranma and then followed the roar, driving at the golem. The blast hit the tornado and completely shattered the twister as if it was made of glass. With a second explosion, it vanished completely.

* * *

The backlash from the golem's destruction hit Henna. Anyone else would have been tossed like a child, or possibly killed, but she just re-absorb her Power grimly – almost contemptuously. She sat down on a chair and pondered the brief battle with Ranma. Her fingers drummed on her workshop table. After a few minutes she said out loud: "Shampoo, you are the greatest fool in the world: you tried to seduce an Animal Lord. Now I have my answer to who else is taking out my Elementals. He destroyed the golem without breaking stride. That's why I've had such a hard time focusing on him – he's not human."

Henna pulled over a scrying glass and conjured a still image of Akane Tendo. "And you should be dead, dear. *I* can't repair a Circle that easily. How did someone 'still wet behind the ears' do it without getting blown to pieces? So, let's see…you're immune to my Water Magic; you're immune to my Water Elementals, and you're apparently immune to Fire. Impressive, most impressive. I really do think you're my Opposite Number." She wagged her finger at the image. "You really need to die, dear."

Now, the image switched to Ryoga. "And what secrets are you hiding, boy? Your fiancéd to the next Sacrifice, but you were working with Ranma and Akane. That Chi blast was magnificent. You too are a Force of Nature. I wonder if you have to go too…"

* * *

Ranma resumed his normal shape and walked back to the rest of the group.

"Impressive for a dummy," Akane commented. She, Ryoga, and (oddly enough) Kuno were the only ones not lost in awe.

"I thought so," Ranma smirked.

"You can just turn it on and off now?" Kuno prompted. "That could be useful."

"I had a little help, but I'm –or rather 'we' – are getting closer."

"So how do we get them out?" Kuno asked indicating Ciren and Hinako. The rest of the group seemed to stir at his question. Ranma's, Akane's, and Ryoga's eyes resumed their normal brightness.

"We could try Marcus's plan," Akane said in a normal voice. "He tried to fix the Circle when Ranma and I broke our Shield and accidently released a lot of Power from the Nexus into the Sky where it dissipated."

"His plan was to pull as much power away from Ciren and Hinako as possible and then pull them out before the power flow resumed," Ranma added.

"After he fixed the Circle," Akane finished.

"So why the Martial Artists?" Sanu asked.

"Because they are pulling from the Nexus when they are fighting," Tofu answered. "He wanted to get us involved too and crank up the fighting. More fighting, more power drain."

Ranma nodded his head but added: "The Nexus is big though. Is it enough to really weaken the flow?"

Tofu grimaced. "It's not that straight forward. If it was simply a matter of energy, we could get all the Mages to dump into their Shields and Wards. But, you and Akane have personal interactions with Ciren and Hinako: what you do affects them more. Revving up the Martial Artists wouldn't work as well unless you're the ones doing it."

"But the Circle is fixed," Sanu pointed out. "Why can't we get them out of there?"

Ranma seemed lost in thought. Briefly his eyes glowed, then he answered: "Things are stuck. We're sort of caught in a loop because of all the built up pressure. We need to shut things down to free them."

"Shut what down? The Nexus?" Daran said in disbelief.

"Not quite," Ranma answered. "We need to stop everything stirring it up though."

"The Equinox passed three hours ago," Tofu stated.

"But things aren't quiet yet. There's still stray magic roaming the streets," Ranma replied. "Akane and me stopped drawing on it and released the Power, but others are still doing it."

"So we need to ground out everything," Hideo said.

"Does that mean the fighting in Cherry Street Park?" Imia asked.

"It's still going on?" Sanu asked.

"That's what my lads tell me," the sergeant answered him. "They show no sign of slowing down."

"Sounds like they're caught too," Tofu noted. "But by Pride, not Power."

Ranma blew out a breath. "Then we need to take them down a notch and knock some sense into them," he said.

"You're talking some heavy odds," Kuno pointed out. "Are you really sure you're up for that?"

Ranma snorted: "They're posers playing with forces they don't understand. They don't stand a chance."

"There's some truth to that," Olaf agreed. "I think many of them are actually afraid of Ranma and some of the other top fighters – or rather, what they can do now. Hell, if we can get their attention, a lot of them will run."

Tomo popped in then. "And there's an easy way to get their attention," he said.

Kuno pointed at the small Kitsune. "Relative?" he asked Tofu.

"My cousin," Tofu stated. "He's been helpful from time to time and he's great at drawing attention to himself."

"As I was saying…" Tomo started again in annoyance at the interruption…

* * *

At Ucchan's, a phone rang – one of many phone calls happening at that particular moment. "Hello Akane," Ukyo answered without waiting. "What took you so long?"

* * *

Kuno looked up to Olaf and stated: "We're sending all our heavy hitters off to run errands. What's to stop Henna from attacking again? Those left don't stand a chance."

"Yes, but we're calling one in," Olaf reassured him. "One who's not tied into Ciren and Hinako."

"One? Who the hell is strong enough to take on Henna by themselves? I know Ranma had help," Kuno pressed.

"Take her on? Not quite. But there are other ways to get the job done," Olaf rumbled. "You'll see."

"Such as?"

"Such as me," Lord Jakaro said from behind them. Kuno turned to see a nine-tailed humanoid Kitsune standing there. The Kitsune's tails were waving in a non-existent wind. Toshio's mouth popped open. "Nice to see that you haven't become too jaded," Jakaro said offhandedly.

"You can fight Henna?" Kuno asked incredulously in a low voice.

Jakaro shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe, maybe not. I don't intend to find out today. Why fight when you can simply hide…" At that, the Kitsune raised is paws and a shimmering light seemed to arise from the grounds of the estate. "Pulling off small magics today is tough. Pulling off big magics is another thing," he said with a small smile.

Kuno's phone rang. "Go," Kuno answered.

"Master! I thought you were gone. I can't see the estate! Even the column of fire is gone!" a ninja spoke.

"It's a Cloak – a very big one. No one is to enter or leave."

"Yes, Master!"

Jakaro turned to Olaf. "I can also feed power to Ciren and Hinako and keep them alive longer," he said to the giant.

"How?"

Jakaro pointed at Olaf. "Through you…let's go talk."

* * *

Henna watched as her scrying glass fogged over. "So, Kuno's aligned with the Huli Jing, is he? And that's a powerful Protection against Detection…most impressive," she admitted. "It won't stop a missile, but I don't have one at my disposal right this minute. I only have two assassins left in the city, and they won't be able to beat the Shield. "Let see how the Fox King fares against another golem by himself…"

* * *

Sanu and Ryuu were back to the courthouse reviewing the map of the Ward. The judge had pulled all his police from the Kuno estate – they couldn't fight against magic and were only sitting ducks if this mysterious Henna attacked again. This chafed him, but he reminded himself: "I need to apply the appropriate medicine to the appropriate injury." Right now, he had a job to do, and he was the only one beside Kuno use to coordinating people on a large scale.

A policeman brought over box of green pushpins and poured a fair number of them into Sanu's pin tray. "We have that many more mages out there? Where were they earlier?" Sanu asked.

"Mages are a suspicious lot," the officer said. "They don't like making themselves known. But they are human. They heard about the ladies and a bunch of them volunteered so long as we gave them burner phones. You have about twenty more teams on-call now." He handed Sanu the list of phone numbers.

Sanu stood stock-still for a moment until Ryuu nudged him. "The impossible looks a little more possible, Boss," the assassin said.

Sanu shook his head and commented ruefully: "That seems to be the nature of Nerima – inside and out."

* * *

"I hate ghosts! Why are we the one's who have to go into a haunted house?" Akane asked plaintively as she, Ranma, Ukyo, and Konatsu stood outside Furinkan High.

"Because it's our school and the rest are either setting up at Cherry Street Park or hunting magic elsewhere. These four ghosts have to be contained – they are drawing a lot of Power. And anything we do has more effect – Tofu already told you that." Ranma answered. Then he scolded: "You are the biggest faker, you know that? You love this stuff."

"Not true!" she protested.

"Not gonna fly, Sugar," Ukyo half-laughed. "I've seen your reading material." Konatsu just nodded his head.

"You also fought the zombies last Christmas without blinking," Ranma said as he held out one of Jakaro's spirit traps.

"Fine," Akane huffed as she took the trap. "But how are we going to find these things?"

That's my job," Yuka said as she walked up.

"YUKA?"

"I don't want to talk about it. Tofu said he needed you to finish here as soon as you could, so I came to help," she answered. "Do you want it or not?" she asked a little uncharacteristically harsh.

Akane embraced her friend and simply said: "Yes."

Yuka accepted the hug for a moment and then stood back and said in a business-like manner: "Let's go." She led the way into the school.

About forty-five minutes later, after a long bout of hide-and-seek, the poltergeist hunters stumbled out of the school with four buzzing spirit traps. All five friends were covered head-to-toe in slime. "Ectoplasm is cold! Ectoplasm is slimy!" Akane complained loudly. "I HATE GHOSTS!

* * *

Hideo walked through the streets with Mausu by his side on their way to shut down another Mist. "No offense," the big man said to the little thief. "And I'm glad for the company, but I thought you had no mystical abilities."

"I don't," Mausu admitted nonchalantly. "I'm a bit more savvy than most, and I know when I'm in over my head, but I don't have the Sight or anything like that."

"So, why are you here instead of helping out at Cherry Street?" Hideo asked.

"Well, except for the crew helping Daran set up, the rest of the mercs and I won't be that much use against supercharged Martial Artists. We're better off serving as eyes and ears right now," Mausu told him.

"Yeah, I can see that, but we're a response team," Hideo pointed out.

"Oh, that. Don't forget, Daran has no special abilities either – he's more of a mechanic with his collection of artifacts. And he and I have been friends for a long time."

"And…."

Mausu took out a pair of sunglasses and produced a baseball bat. Both objects glowed to Hideo's other Sight. "And he's not above lending me things."

"Does he know he's lending those out right now?" Hideo asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He'll know when I return them to him," Mausu replied with a grin.

* * *

Kasumi walked into the graveyard. Her other Sight showed her that the air was filled with restless spirits whipping through the air. When they came close to her, her glow illuminated them enough for Shizuka to see them. "So, this is what the Sight is like…" Shizuka commented. "You can keep it."

"It has its advantages sometimes," Kasumi said.

"Name one," Shizuka challenged.

"That you can See a dear old friend when she stops by to check up on you," the spirit of Kimiko Tendo said as she appeared in front of them.

With a low cry, Shizuka leaped forward to embrace the spirit, only to have her arms pass through Kimiko. As Shizuka recovered, Kimiko seemed to gently touch Shizuka's cheek. A tear ran from one of Shizuka's eyes as she said: "You can touch me but I can't touch you? You always did cheat, Kimiko."

The spirit laughed gently. "Sorry, love. I don't make the rules. But I'm glad you can see me. Just know I'm always close by." Kimiko turned to her daughter and added: "Married life agrees with you, Kasumi."

"I think so, Mother," Kasumi admitted with a smile. "You came to help?"

"You didn't think I'd pass up a chance to sing with you again, did you?" Kimiko laughed once more.

"Sing?" Shizuka asked.

"You were asked to soothe the restless spirits of this graveyard. Music is a powerful form of Order, Shizuka. It can cut through a lot of Chaos as you'll see," Kimiko explained.

"I was all set to recite prayers and burn incense," Kasumi said. "Music didn't occur to me."

"Looks like you can still learn a few things from your mother," Kimiko said. "Shall we start with a nice hymn – say 'Song of the Morning'?"

"But…" Shizuka started.

"I'm only here temporarily, Shizuka. The Chaos will sweep me elsewhere unless we fight it. If you want me to stay longer, we need to start…"

Both Kasumi and Shizuka sighed, and then the two mortal women nodded. Shizuka said: "All right, on four. "One…two…three…four: _Dawn lifts the night and fades the stars…"_

Across the graveyard, ghosts stop their frenetic wheeling through the skies to listen to the song ringing through the air. As they listened, they began to relax and forget about the Nexus disturbing their peace.

* * *

Kuno's phone went off again. "What's happening?" he demanded.

"It's another tornado sir! It seems to be homing in where the compound should be!" the spy reported.

Kuno turned to Jakaro. "We've got another golem looking for us!"

Jakaro shrugged his shoulders. "Tell your men to stay clear of it," he said nonchalantly.

"All it has to do is sweep back and forth through your illusion!" Kuno pointed out. Above and beyond the shimmering walls of the compound, Kuno could see twister cutting through the sky. "Can you fight it?"

"Possibly, but why bother?" Jakaro asked.

Kuno stared at the Kitsune Lord for a few moments and said into the phone: "Stay clear – that's an order!" Then he closed the phone and folded his arms across his chest. He raised an eyebrow and commented: "This should be interesting."

The tornado descended and flowed toward the compound. Human and Kitsune watched it approach, both of them outwardly calm. As soon as it touched the compound wall, it vanished without any flash or fanfare.

"Amazing. Was that more Faith from you?" Lord Jakaro asked.

"Or maybe I'm versed enough to know what a Gate is," Kuno said rolling his eyes.

"Why fight when you can just send it elsewhere?" Jakaro agreed. "It's only a machine after all – it has no free will…"

* * *

Henna watched through her golem as the automaton marched forward. Suddenly, the view shifted to be hundreds of feet in the air and over an ocean of some sort. "What?" was the only conscious thought she could form before the golem began to dissolve and she lost touch with it. She stood in her workshop confused for a minute or so. Then the cursing began: "You !%^&%! bloody sneak!" She let loose a stream of more invection. "You used such a pissant little spell to defeat my golem? How dare you? HOW DARE YOU?!"

* * *

Next up: The last chapter.


	9. Music

Chapter 9: Music

"You're insane," Tofu said to his cousin as he stood in Cherry Street Park looking at the locked fighters. "And I'm even worse for listening to you."

"Look…we need to get their attention and that means cutting across the Chaos they're caught in," Tomo said as he and Daisuke were busy wiring the DJ station together. Ryoga and Hiroshi were unloading the speakers from Hideo's van (which Tofu had borrowed). Tomo continued: "We need Order to do that, and do you know a stronger form of Order that we can call on other than Music?"

Tofu just sighed. Nearby were the Dojo Destroyer, Sensei Miyazaki, and several other high ranking male and female fighters who had heard about the crisis and wanted to help. They were chatting among themselves and critiquing the fighting. Tofu was about to address them when his phone went off. He saw it was Ranma's number so he answered it. "Did you lock up the ghosts?" he asked by way of greeting.

"Yep, done. We just got cleaned up and changed into our gis. Shizuka will drive us over soon," Ranma replied.

"Sounds good," Tofu answered.

"Listen," Ranma started. "My friend says you need to break the Masters into Yin and Yang groups."

"What? Why?" the doctor asked confused.

"We need to establish new Power flows to sweep away the static. The Yang team enters from the East and the Yin team attacks from the West. That will create an East to West flow that will short out the individual flows. Or so I'm told…"

A light went on in Tofu's mind. "Yes, he's right. We need more women though to balance the teams," he said.

"Better start making some phone calls," Ranma told him.

* * *

Daran look out on the madness in front of him. Akane, Kasumi, Ukyo, Cologne, Akari, Shizuka and a few other female fighters were nearby. The berserker fighters hadn't even paid any attention to him setting up his equipment – not even the speakers. "They are so lost in brawling," he thought. "I'm not sure music by itself will get their attention." He looked at the women standing ready and called Ukyo over to him. "Why does Akane look so grim?" he asked her.

"Because several members of the Loser Patrol are out there," Ukyo answered. "She's healed, but she still remembers."

"You know, I still have a tough time believing that story – the level of cluelessness needed is huge," Daran replied.

"It was before my time, but, trust me, these guys are still pretty clueless," Ukyo said grimly.

"It's too bad she didn't have the Thunder Strike back then…" he started and stopped.

"What?" Ukyo pushed.

"I know how to get their attention. Can you please get Akane for me?" he asked.

* * *

Daran hung up his phone. Tomo wanted to try a different song, but they were so far apart, Daran thought it wouldn't matter, so he told Tomo to go ahead. The little Kitsune agreed to wait for Akane's cue though, so not to lower the impact. Daran did one last check and then hit the "Play" button. The fighters didn't notice when the guitar riff began repeating over and over again, sounding across the field. A handful noticed the chanting and the repetition of the word "Thunder". A few more noticed the rough voice singing out:

 _"I was caught In the middle of a railroad track,  
I looked round And I knew there was no turning back,  
My mind raced And I thought what could I do,  
And I knew There was no help, no help from you." (1)_

Maybe half a dozen more fighters saw twelve women move to the top of the rise, Akane Tendo standing in the middle of the row with a ball of plasma held between her hands. These fighters would later be called "the lucky ones" since their premonition cause them to race the hell out of there at top speed. The bulk of the fighters were oblivious as the second stanza of the song started:

 _"Sound of the drums, Beating in my heart,  
The thunder of guns, Tore me apart,  
You've been -"_

The word " _Thunderstruck_ " was lost as Akane unleashed a massive Thunder Strike.

* * *

Ranma stood still as the thunder rolled over him. As it passed, he saw a quarter of the field get knocked off their feet by the concussive sound. Those still standing were momentarily confused, but Ranma knew the moment was fleeting – even now he felt the power flows re-assert themselves. He gestured for the men and said "All right, Tomo: Go!" Tomo started the CD and a strong drum beat started.

Ranma looked at Tofu with a smirk and mouthed the words to the song: " _Are you ready, Steve?" (2)_

Tofu kept a straight face as he replied: _"Uh-huh"_

Ranma looked at Mousse: _"Andy?"_

Mousse mouthed back with a roll of his eyes: _"Yeah."_

Then Ranma looked at Ryoga: _"Mick?"_

Ryoga couldn't keep a straight face: _"Okay."_

Ranma's eyes blazed with anticipation as he actually yelled in English: _"Alright fellas, let's go!"_

* * *

The women attacked from the West, and the men attacked from the East with music sounding over the whole field. In between the men and women were roughly five hundred Martial Artists. Fortunately or unfortunately, the majority of the Martial Artists had started fighting with each other again. The exceptions were the ones by Ranma, Akane, and company – the "demi-gods" had indeed come to play. Before, the fighters had felt no pain while squabbling among themselves, but that changed with team Ono/Tendo on the field. Punches to the ribs knocked out wind, shots to the stomach left bruises, slams to the jaw made ears ring, and kicks to the body resulted in sucking mud. Even the new members of the team (like Akari) seemed to be doing heavier damage than the masses were capable of. However, it was slow going. Each fighter took several hits to knock out hard enough that they stayed down. Those that recovered would only get up and start fighting again with their fellows. Ranma and his team had to inflict more damage than they liked to end a fight. And there were a lot of fighters on the field.

After she had downed about ten fighters, it was Shizuka who noticed it first – opponents thrown outside of the park did not come back. Apparently, there was a limit to the battle madness. "Ladies!" she called out. "Throw them out of the park – there's a boundary!"

Akane heard her and gave a bloodcurdling cry as she kicked two for distance.

"Looks like Akane Airlines is back in business," Ukyo smirked as she repeated Akane's performance.

"You don't get to talk," Akane shot back. "I've seen you in action too." Ukyo just stuck her tongue out.

"Oh my, that's quite a distance," Kasumi commented. "Are you sure they're all right?"

"Their getting up and wandering away," Cologne answered. "I think it's just their egos that have been wounded."

* * *

Ranma noticed the women shot-putting opponents and the results. He pointed it out to Tofu by yelling: "Look they're quitting!"

Tofu ducked, grabbed a fist, and threw his attacker twenty meters. "I see! Once they leave the park, the trance is breaking. Everyone! Force them outside the park!"

Ranma launched two chi blasts that knocked three people outside the park. Ryoga slammed the ground and an earth wave carried away four others. Mousse threw two more. The Dojo Destroyer launched three others. As with the women, the fighters the men threw would wake up and wander away.

After ten minutes of this though, a voice inside Ranma spoke to him: _"Ranma, this is too slow. Ciren and Hinako are running out of time. We need to make the music louder to break the trance."_

Ranma tossed two more opponents. _"I'm all ears,"_ he replied.

 _"It's similar to the Windtalker spell, but were going to make it one way – speakers to everyone else,_ " Rera told him. _"Here's how…"_

After a few moments of instruction, Ranma sent his thought to Ryoga: _"Ryoga! I need a minute of blocking – I'm turning up the music."_

 _"Go!"_ Ryoga sent back as he moved to fight by Ranma.

The pig-tailed young man concentrated and the strains of "Ballroom Blitz" and Thunderstruck" were now heard across the field simultaneously. Because each song was heard perfectly, the dissonance began to filter into the fighters' consciousness. Soon, the Martial Artists were trying to track the source of the songs, breaking their berserker state. It was then that the field finally noticed the steady fountains of people flying through the air to crash outside of the park.

"It's Ranma!" someone called out.

"Get him!" another said.

Ryoga's response was a Chi blast that carved a path through the Martial Artists.

"Screw this!" several people said as they bolted.

Meanwhile, since she hated to be ignored, Akane timed another "Thunder Strike" set to the music. The sound blast leveled a quarter of the field again. Several more people fled. Akari and Ukyo copied Ryoga and went bowling for fighters with Chi blasts. Ryoga send out another earth wave that tossed down several fighters. A few of the fighters fired chi blast back at the Ono team, but Tofu blocked the blasts with a Shield. Now the Martial Artists close to Tofu got a good look at the half-Kitsune and decided they were in over their heads and fled. Cologne was using her staff to throw the fighters downed by Akane out of the park as fast as she could. The rest of Team Tendo/Ono was likewise occupied.

Tomo and Daran delayed the endings of the two songs repeatedly, flowing back to the chorus of the songs as the music neared their endings. Neither DJ understood what Ranma was doing, but they did understand that they could hear what the other was playing clearly. This caused Daran to start adjusting "Thunderstruck" so that the beat time matched "Ballroom Blitz". He could only hold the two in sync briefly, but every time he did, more people quit the field.

Finally, Ryoga and Akane launched simultaneous Earth Wave and Thunder Strike attacks and they broke the will of the remaining Martial Artists. The fighters began streaming away from the Yin and Yang teams, running to the north and south.

* * *

Olaf was watching Ciren and Hinako in their Circle while praying for a miracle. Suddenly, his radio cracked to life as Daran shouted "Done!" The giant saw the beam falter and became a cone of static. He quickly leaned forward and thrust his long arms into the Circle. Immediately he felt tremendous pain light up his arms, but he persisted and placed a huge hand on each of the women's torsos. With a mighty heave, he pushed them apart and threw them out of the Circle. He saw each woman hit the ground, and that was the last thing he remembered as the Circle exploded in his face, tossing him high in the air.

* * *

When Olaf came to, he was lying on the remains of part of the compound wall. There was a team of medics applying burn salve to his arms and face. "I don't suppose you'd consider working for me?" Toshio Kuno asked the giant.

"Where's Ciren?" Olaf demanded weakly.

"Safe and mostly sound," Toshio answered. "So's Hinako. I'd tell you that you can see them once Ono has a look at you, but I don't think you'll listen to me. You really shouldn't move until we get your back checked. You came down hard."

Olaf tried to get up, but his head started spinning. "Stay put," Toshio advised. "I'm not lying. They're in better shape than you are."

"Where are they?" Olaf asked a little stronger.

"About twenty meters away. When the Circle exploded, only you were affected. It's shut down by the way," Kuno added.

Olaf slowly turned his head and saw Ojima kneeling on the ground next to Ciren's prone form. There were two medics with her. Olaf could tell that Ciren was conscious and talking. The giant gave a small smile and then looked over at Hinako in her child form surrounded by four medics. Nearby, Soun Tendo walked into view, having been "retrieved" from the Tendo house by Kuno's people. One of the medics left the child and walked over to Soun. After a short (unheard) conversation, Soun walked back with the medic to Hinako's side. "There are no happy endings…" the giant sighed mostly to himself. "But maybe there'll be some pleasant journeys." Kuno said nothing but there was a gleam of understanding in his eyes.

* * *

"How's Olaf?" Ciren asked.

"Sun-burned," Ojima answered. "He's breathing though. I think the wall broke his fall."

"It's tough to hurt an Earth Giant," Ciren said with relief.

"No, it's not," Ojima disagreed. "Their hearts are wide open." Ciren's eyes looked stricken at that. "He considers you his daughter. Did you know that?" he asked. Ciren bit her lower lip and nodded her head. "You can't do this to him." Ojima paused and added: "You can't do this to me. You're too important."

"I'm a vampire, Ojima. I drain lives," she said bleakly.

"No, you're not," he told her. She looked at him with exasperation. "All right, maybe you are. But you're a responsible vampire," he pushed back. "You're a warrior, not a murderer."

"You can't have me singing in bars for my food," she protested.

"Did I ask you to change?" he pressed. She shook her head. As she tried to speak, he touched a finger to her lips, silencing her. "Lots of people sing and perform for their supper. It's not a sin. As you told me that night I first heard you sing, it's not a crime."

"But you're a police officer!"

"So? Isn't a police officer allowed to love?" he asked.

Ciren's eyes became very wide. "Love?" she whispered.

Now Ojima looked exasperated. "Yes, 'Love'. It's the same reason you put yourself in that Circle and hoped for the impossible," he told her. Her mouth moved but no words came out. "See?" he pressed. "Go ahead, tell me you don't love me." Her mouth snapped shut, so he picked up one of her hands and held it in both of his. "Look, I don't want you to change, because then I'll have to change – and I can't do it. I am who I am. This is it. You have to take me, warts and all, or leave me." Her eyes softened as she looked at him. "I have to take you as you are – and I want to."

She opened her mouth and he cut her off: "This is Nerima," he said.

"Are you going to let me talk?" she interjected.

"Not while you're trying to raise objections," he replied. "The answer's still the same: This is Nerima. The people here know who you are. Many like you – as you are. You can have a home here – if you want it. You can have a home with me – and I want you to."

Ciren's mouth just gaped openly at her lover.

* * *

Soun looked at Hinako in her child form with some exasperation after listening to her. "First off, you're not dying," he said. "You're going to be fine. Second off, can we have this conversation when I'm sober? You've just laid some heavy stuff at my feet and I'm not up to thinking."

"What?!" Hinako half-shouted. "A woman tells you she loves you and you push her off? And why are you drunk?"

"Half-drunk," Soun said. "I have a massive hangover actually – so please stop yelling. Can we just say I'm screwed up because of the Equinox and let it go at that?"

"With alcohol?" she demanded.

"Yes," he tried again. "I drank too much because of the Equinox."

"What sort of…" she started, but Soun cut her off by laying a finger on her lips (inadvertently copying Ojima) . The gesture startled Hinako completely.

"You're going to Tofu's clinic for observation. I'm going with you. I'll keep you company tonight and I can detox. Then you can yell at me tomorrow. We can have a long talk – tomorrow," he said plaintively.

"You're going to run," she said sullenly.

"Where am I going to run to? I live just down the street," he said with more exasperation. "I'm going to stay with you tonight," he repeated.

"You don't love me because of my affliction," she said.

"Why should I care if you're a shape-shifter? I'm marrying my daughter to a shape-shifter. Look, your adult form is beautiful and your child form is charming, but can we do this tomorrow? Please?"

"Charming?" she prompted.

"Oh thank gods, a light dawns," he muttered. Out loud, he said: "Yes, charming – when you're not being demanding. I promise I'll stay with you until we talk. No running, no evasion. Let's just heal. O.K.?"

"Oh, all right," she said petulantly.

* * *

Henna's Viewing Sphere stabilized and she looked over the Ward of Nerima. "Amazing. The city survived." She scanned through the city following trails of magic until she finally found Akane and Ranma draining a stagnant Power pool near the civic center. One of their teachers was with them. "And you survived too. I'm not surprised," she noted. "You survived being Sacrificed, and you survived this." Her eyes hardened. "But you're not going to survive me."

* * *

Nodoka looked up from her magazine as Ranma and Akane walked in. They nodded to her and Toshio (sitting next to her working on a laptop) and looked at the patients all resting comfortably in the one of the Ono clinic's rooms. Soun, Hinako, Ciren, Olaf (now in his human form) and Marcus were all asleep in their beds. Ojima was passed out sitting in a chair next to Ciren. "How are they doing?" Akane asked.

"All exhausted, all well - relatively," Nodoka answered. "How did the hunting go?"

"We shut down a lot of wandering magic," Ranma told her. "Enough so that Tofu's back in his mortal form and Kasumi is only glowing slightly. "I've never seen the Mages work so well together."

"They've been at this all day?" Nodoka asked.

"Pretty much," Akane agreed. "They been hunting since sunrise, but there was a lot out there. And that was despite what Hinako and Ciren released – and what the Martial Artists were caught in. Now that the sun's set, things are quieting down. Hideo sent us home and asked us to come back at sunrise."

"Everyone thinks of the mages as stand-offish and secretive," Nodoka mused. "They actively discourage people from seeking them out. It's a surprise to see them so civic-minded."

"I asked Hideo about that," Ranma stated. "He said some people think magic solves anything and mages would get no peace if they actively advertised who they were, so they keep quiet. People don't realize magic has limits. It doesn't cure cancer, make gold, or grant long life. If it does, then there's a price to be paid. Often the cure is worse than the disease." Kuno snorted at that and nodded.

"Speaking of which, I heard Mr. Marcus's arm was a mess, how did you fix it?" Nodoka asked curiously.

"I didn't. My other self somehow knew Olaf had Water from Jusendo," Akane replied. "That's what healed him."

"And what was the price?" Nodoka pressed.

Ranma snorted. "He's in debt to our Other selves. The Water didn't want to heal him, but Akane's other self convinced It to."

"It didn't want to?"

"Apparently, the Water chooses who It heals. The fact that It's aware was a bit of a shock to everyone," Ranma told her.

"Oh dear."

"Exactly. The fact that It healed us means it chose us – and others like Ryoga, Akari, Mousse, Olaf, and Tofu. My other self said we're all marked," Akane said.

"Why do you keep saying 'my other self'?" Nodoka quizzed. She looked like she wanted to say more and stopped herself. She looked inquisitively at Akane.

"Because we know Henna's watching Nerima directly now," Akane answered. "She's probably figured out that she can't trust Cologne any more for reports – not that Cologne gave her anything really. We need to protect our 'other selves' by keeping their Names quiet for a little longer."

"We could use them in the clinic or at home because those places are Shielded, but we need to get into the habit to avoid slip ups," Ranma added.

"Secrets within secrets," Nodoka mused.

Kuno closed his laptop and nodded again. "I'm afraid so. None of us know everything – mostly for safety sake. I think the one who knows the most is Happosai, and he's in hiding somewhere," Toshio stated quietly.

"Any idea where?" Ranma asked.

"I have an idea, but no proof. Most likely the United States," Kuno answered. "More I can't say."

"Can't or won't?" Akane asked impishly.

"Yes," Kuno answered with a twinkle in his eyes. "For now, you know not to waste time hunting for him. There are other things you should do."

"Such as?" Ranma pressed.

Kuno put away his laptop and stood up, offering a hand to Nodoka who took it. "Like getting food and resting so you'll be useful tomorrow. Come on; let's grab something. Ono and Kasumi are on their way to watch over this crew."

As they started to leave the room, Akane asked again: "Seriously, before we leave the clinic's Shield, what do you think we should be doing to get ready for Henna?"

"Up your training," Kuno said gravely. "Fighting and magic. That includes the rest of your crew. Do what Ono tells you, even if you don't understand – it will make sense eventually. I'll bedevil Henna to give you as much time as possible, but you've seen that doesn't always work. Once school ends next month, hold off teaching and college until after the Summer Solstice. Train, inside and out, like there's no tomorrow, because there may not be – we'll only get one shot at this." They followed him silently, slightly awed at the truth he was speaking. He was quiet until they reached the front door of the clinic. Then he turned to them with a raised eyebrow and said: "Keep in mind that humans can't work all the time. We have to have our downtime otherwise we short out. Train – but remember to set aside time to play. Life is also something we only get one shot at."

Nodoka chuckled then and commented: "Well said." Toshio led her outside.

Ranma and Akane stood on the doorstop for a moment. Then Ranma turned to Akane with his own eyebrow raised. Akane grinned at Ranma and they both raced off to the dojo.

* * *

A/N: Footnotes:

(1) The song is "Thunderstruck" written by Angus Young and Malcolm Young in 1990. The song was first performed by the band "AC/DC".

(2) The song is "The Ballroom Blitz" written and produced by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman in 1973. The song was first performed by the band "The Sweet".

* * *

A/N: And so ends another story. Two more to go and it will be time to put this worldview to rest. The next story is "To Ride the Wild Horse" which is closer to a traditional Ranma story. Hope you'll read it.

For those who wonder if Apay had any sharp words for Suma, keep reading...


	10. Epilogue: Mortals

Epilogue: Mortals

Apay sat out in the Garden reading. Above her, Akane's night dreams played out in the sky, but it was a rerun about Ranma (and a rather "naughty" rerun at that). The book was a fantasy novel that Akane had borrowed from Yuka for her "inner self." The World Elemental was using a Viewing Sphere to see the book from where it lay on Akane's desk. "Downtime also applies to me," she thought smugly. The book was by a Westerner named Terry Pratchett and featured a young woman named Susan and her grandfather, Death, who was taking a vacation. Apay could relate to the young woman growing into her power (and dealing with Rules) and found the perspective fascinating. "I'm going to recommend it to the next Angel of Death I run across. Those guys could use a little perspective themselves," she mused. Recommending a book to Rera was useless – the King of the Seasons only read Manga these days, thanks to Ranma. "Oh well, he'll grow out of it in a couple thousand years," she thought wryly. She wasn't recommending anything to Suma right now. If fact, she was making a point of not talking to him, something that was making the Earth Spirit very nervous. "He'll break first," she reflected. "He needs me more than I need him right now, and he knows it."

It had been a week since the Equinox and Nerima was mostly back to normal (or as much as it ever got back to normal) with the exception that there were a lot of happy couples still about. Since Apay didn't see this as a problem, she didn't worry about it. The fact that the birth rate was going to increase nine months from now was also not her problem. She did check to see if Akane, Kasumi, or Yuka had "caught" (none of them had), but that was from personal curiosity rather than professional concern. Overall, the Summer Soul (she was no longer strictly a Sprite) felt the world could use a few more children – it was adults that were often the problem.

"All right, can we get this over with?" Suma announced with an annoyed voice, materializing without warning. Without a word, Apay got up, turned her back on him, and walked towards Akane's Museum. Suma tried again: "I needed the Power. They were the perfect celebrants. They never noticed." He never saw her jaw clenched as she reached for the doors. She opened it and walked inside. Suma grabbed the door before it closed and strode after his Sister.

Apay stopped for a moment, shocked by the breach of protocol and the immense invasion of Akane's privacy. Immediately, the foyer vanished to be replaced by a stone stairway walled with darkness, leading down into darkness. The only light visible was Apay's aura lighting up the immediate stairs. "What just happened?" Suma asked. Apay didn't answer him; instead she walked forward down the stairs. Suma had two choices then: turn around and leave, or follow Apay before she got too far ahead of him. He chose the foolish one and followed her. "You being unreasonable," he told her. Again, she made no answer. He tried again: "You don't understand. Look, Henna has done a lot of damage to me. It's a wonder I didn't unravel completely. The blood rituals are the surest means for me to raise Power." Apay walked on silently.

"Fine," he huffed. "You don't want to talk about it, I'm leaving." He turned to find only blackness. "Oh crap," he whispered. "This is not Akane's Soul." He spun back and hurried after Apay. "Wait. I'm sorry – really. I just want you to understand." Still Apay said nothing. Suma opened his mouth and then shut it again. He fell silently into step behind Apay.

No one could say how far they descended. After some point, Suma pled quietly: "Please Apay, where are we going?" Still she said nothing. Suma began counting the stairs out loud hoping to evoke a response, but it didn't work. He continued following his Sister and counting the steps.

When Suma hit ten thousand, three hundred, and thirty-seven, the stairs ended in a large platform of some sort. At least, that was the impression Suma got from the little he could see. "Are you done now? Will you talk to me?" he asked testily.

Apay walked forward for about 100 meters until she hit a brass wall. The wall rose out of sight of her light and stretched to the left and the right. "What's that?" Suma asked. In response, Apay touched the wall and it began glowing. As Suma watched, the glow began growing horizontally and showing curvature. As the glow spread, it picked up speed, showing that the wall was actually the base of a large object – a very large object. Suma could not tell its exact proportions from his viewpoint, but it had to be a least a kilometer wide. Once as far as he could see was lit up, the glow expanded upwards and the brass wall quickly became a glass wall stretching out of sight. "I don't understand," Suma said in confusion.

Apay turned and looked severely at him. "No, you don't. But you're going too." She made a gesture and light appeared around her highlighting the stone floor. The light expanded away in all directions, exposing more and more of the floor until Apay and Suma were standing on an endless expanse of rock under a black sky with the brass and glass wall in front of them. Apay made another gesture and she and Suma began to grow – or the object in front of them began to shrink; it was hard to tell.

When the object was about 100 meters across, Suma figured out what he was looking at. "It's an hourglass," Suma said in confusion. He noted that about half the sand was in the lower chamber.

"No, you're wrong," Apay told him somewhat acidly. "It's a lifetimer." The timer was now about 10 meters across.

"A what?"

"It measures one mortal's life. Every mortal has a limited time to live, whether they know it or not. This shows one lifespan," she stated sharply. The object was now about a meter tall.

"That's nonsense. Mortals live until they die – no one knows their duration," he shot back.

"Not true; everyone knows when they will die – the question is how much notice they get. Some know months ahead of the time – some only have nanoseconds," she corrected.

"How did you get that? For gods' sake, don't tell Akane you have hers!" he exclaimed.

"It's not Akane's," she said coolly. The lifetimer was now about 30 cm tall and had stopped shrinking. Apay picked it up and set it on her left hand. Then she spun it until some engraving near the bottom was visible. "It's yours," she stated. On the base, Suma could see very clearly, the word "EARTH".

"Bullshit!" Suma burst out. "You're just trying to rattle me; I'm an immortal."

Apay's eyes narrowed, but she lectured calmly: "The humans know that the sun converts hydrogen into helium at its core. When it burns all the hydrogen at the core, it begins to burn the rest of the interior. Then the sun will expand. What they don't know is exactly when this will occur or how far it will expand. They have reasonable guesses, but they are missing some precise information just out of their reach." With that Apay's hand shot out and grabbed Suma's shirt up by the collar and pulled him in close so she could look directly into his eyes. Suma had no escape. "The sun is a ball of fire – my realm. It's part of me. I can look at it and know exactly how much hydrogen is left and where it is. I don't have to figure out the rate of consumption – it's in my blood. When the core hydrogen is gone, the sun will expand. It will consume the planets Mercury and Venus and continue onward. It will get bigger and bigger, crossing the distance. The earth's surface will seethe and burn as it gets closer. The star's atmosphere will engulf you, blowing away your own atmosphere. Fire will be everywhere. Finally, the planet's orbital speed will drop until it crashes into the sun and is blown apart by the tidal forces and nuclear currents." She held up the lifetimer between them. "In 186 quadrillion, 2 trillion, 587 billion, 622 million, 941 thousand, 6 hundred and 75 seconds, you will be dead. No resurrection possible. Congratulations, you're officially middle-age."

"NO!" Suma screamed.

Apay released him. "186 quadrillion, 2 trillion, 587 billion, 622 million, 941 thousand, 6 hundred and 55 seconds until I kill you," she declared. It was hard to believe a spirit of fire could sound so cold.

"We live forever!"

"In 186 quadrillion, 2 trillion, 587 billion, 622 million, 941 thousand, 6 hundred and 35 seconds and you will know differently."

"NO!" Suma screamed again.

"186 quadrillion, 2 trillion, 587 billion, 622 million, 941 thousand, 6 hundred and 15 seconds," she continued relentlessly. "186 quadrillion, 2 trillion, 587 billion, 622 million, 941 thousand, and 6 hundred seconds." She paused a proper moment. "186 quadrillion, 2 trillion, 587 billion, 622 million, 941 thousand, 5 hundred and 85 seconds."

"STOP!" Suma cried at her as he reached to grab her shoulders.

The lifetimer vanished and Apay punched Suma hard in the gut. Then her left fist smashed him in the jaw. Suma tumbled to the ground. Apay half dragged him up by the front of his shirt collar. Again she stared into his eyes. "You hold humans in distain because they are mortal, and you think you're above that. But now you know differently. You…are…mortal. Just like them. Just like me, just like Rera, just like Sister. Every time you cross me, I'm going to tell you your time left." She held him nose-to-nose. "And if you *ever* hurt Akane again, I'm going to beat the crap out of you and recite the number for an hour." With that, she punched him in the jaw again and threw him back. Suma promptly vanished.

Apay gestured and was back in the Garden again. She stood there looking at the ground for quite some time. When she looked up, she saw Akane kneeling down a little ways away, dressed in a gi watching her. Wordlessly, Akane lifted her arms and held them out. Bursting into tears, Apay ran to the young woman's embrace.


End file.
